Chaos and Order: Insanity and Redemption
by Ageofmyths
Summary: [Complete] Percy Jackson is tired. Very, very tired. He is going to break out of his cycle of rebirth; that much has been decided. With a semi-present, confused Chaos and an omnipotent watching over him, he works out of his misery. Set during and right after the war against Gaea. Pertemis hinted, unrequited. First of the series. Perchaos pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to put up the intro, I was working on the following chapter of this story. I'll be updating the other one soon, I just felt I really needed to put this one up beforehand. It clears up a few things, even though it sort of gives away a few things for my other story.**

**Just to clarify, this is the first story, even though I'm publishing the first chapter of this one after having posted the sequel first. Oh, and keep an open mind, it helps a lot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. I don't own the Illiad and Odyssey, either, though that would be nice.**

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Decorations filled the room. Too many, she thought, but then she realized she sort of liked it. It gave a chaotic aspect to the room, the randomness of everything working together beautifully, projecting the small desk in the middle with all kinds of images. A man was sitting at the desk, thinking out loud while writing on a piece of parchment.

_What is it like to be a god? Many mortals and demigods have pondered the question._

_The truth is, eternity is a long, long time. And the gods tend to get extremely bored._

_That normally would not bother anyone. Except for the fact that these are gods. And bored gods mean that mortals and demigods are going to be in trouble._

_The Trojan War was an indirect result of the boredom of gods. Hermes and his devious ways... If he hadn't stolen the stupid apple, who knows where half the Grecian army would be. Maybe they would never have travelled the Aegean Sea. Maybe they wouldn't have lost their lives in a 10 year long struggle. Over a woman, of all things. Damn Aphrodite, damn love, damn them all!_

"Menelaus? Honey, calm down. There's no point raging over the past. I just found out your brother's been killed."

"What? Who, and how did Agamemnon..."

"Apparently, it was Clytemnestra, they said something about..."

Chaos watched this event with slight interest. She wondered what this world would be like if she wasn't ever present in the nature of humanity. A world devoid of chaos, of irregularities, of creativity, another model of constancy and another beacon of stupidity. She sneered at the thought, the robot sapiens of the last planet she had visited were so sickeningly ordinary. She was so glad when the humans had finally developed into a race of sentient beings, so many long years ago. Her children and grandchildren may have stumped their growth for a while, but the Olympians that currently ruled over earth were good enough; she'd let them last.

Unknown to her, a being was watching her musings and reading her mind like an open book. He chuckled softly; Chaos could be so easily distracted. That was a small reason why his son loved her, though. He was watching over her at his son's request. He checked that there was no tampering with the timeline and went back to the time of his son, several millennia from the experience. His son was doing his own thing, lost in a cycle of rebirth that was about to end soon. He sighed. If only he wasn't such an ignoramus this time around. Well, that wasn't completely true, Poseidon was mainly at fault, but Sally had remedied that. Of course, he was immensely bright, but he mulled things over in his head before talking, and that made him seem a bit slow.

The being chuckled lightly when he realized his internal joke; Percy, as he was now called, was immensely bright in more ways than one. He frowned slightly; Percy was also the darkest being in all of existence. His chuckle turned into laughter, and he had almost forgotten his mental shield when he cursed silently and put it up before Chaos could notice. Reading through Chaos' mind didn't exactly feel wrong to him, since he was the original progenitor, but he wondered what his son would think. When he had requested him to watch over her, he wasn't sure if that entailed reading her mind, but he didn't bother arguing with himself for too long, that could create small problems if his mind decided to split into different parts and start a full-blown, long-lasting, inconclusive debate. The last time that had happened, he had spent a millennia trying to piece together what he himself was saying.

Getting back to what Chaos was thinking about, he noticed she was scanning everything on earth, for some reason. He wondered for a few moments, before cursing himself for being so slow. Maybe Poseidon wasn't fully the problem, a part of his consciousness said. He told it to shut up and go back to its corner, to which his 5th mind complied grudgingly. Of course, she knew that his son might be somewhere there. Apparently, she was mad at him.

_Or maybe not._ _What a coincidence, she stops on Perseus Jackson. _He frowned slightly, had she figured out that his son had been reborn? She didn't even know about his choice to go on the cycle of rebirth. No, there had to be some other reason. He realized it may just have to do with the fact that he was the saviour of Olympus. Apparently, the fates had decided he was important and that he needed to be around every great prophecy as long as he lived.

Chaos frowned slightly as she looked at Percy. The latter, of course, was completely oblivious to the presence watching him, which was probably a good thing because he did not need to get distracted during _this_ fight. She was sure Percy was in some way related to her. No single demigod for as long as she could remember had single-handedly pulverized Typhon.

Either that, or Echidna knew some secret weakness of her husband and had told Percy of it. The latter option was so incredible and unlikely that she knew it had to be the first one. She wondered, was Percy her son? She didn't bother trying to find out, everything in the universe was created from her; she was Creation. She must have thought him up during a period of rest. He was a son of Poseidon, though, that much was certain; no other demigod could wield the seas. Not just water, but the seas. She decided she would watch him closely. She liked him a lot, his actions showed impulsive acts of randomness, he had a general chaotic way of thinking and acting, and she figured that she must have been his mother.

The being watching her chuckled again. Sure, his son was impulsive and chaotic. He smiled at Chaos, of course she was too distracted to notice that his small acts of randomness were more than balanced by the order and peace they brought about at the end. During each of his quests, he was unpredictable. Yet, at the end of each, the world was in order again. _Trust Chaos to think like that._ He sighed out loud. He was getting tired of this whole business; he'd watched her for several eons now. He grumbled even louder. His son better have decided to finish the cycle sooner rather than later, because otherwise he would simply snap from the all the insanity he was forced to supervise.

Of course, it wasn't really insanity. It's just that her thoughts were so unconnected, so jumpy and shaky, that his whole appearance flickered with impatience.

_Perseus Jackson, you better be the last reincarnation. I swear, you're in big trouble when you get back._

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**Let me know how you feel about this. I figured you might want to know more about where this is going, so I'd like a review or two commenting on this.**

**I'll get the next chapter posted soon enough.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! My thanks to you guys who reviewed and the guy that decided to follow the story! I'm touched. **

**On a more serious (but less important) note: I know I said that this story is set **_**after**_** the war against Gaea, but just remember that we are looking deep into what Chaos is looking at. Also, several of my paragraph jumps indicate ellipses (time skips). You'll understand when you see it, but this is just to make sure you do.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan and hence I don't own what he owns.**

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While Chaos watches —

Percy swore. Damn them all! How in Hades had Gaea managed to get enough energy to unchain Typhon? This was so damn unnecessary! He'd had enough trouble getting the two camps together, even more trouble stopping them from beating the living Hades out of each other when Octavian had hit Rachel and given her a few choice insults for declaring herself the oracle. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, he impaled himself the next capture the flag, purely accidentally, on Reyna's javelin. Thankfully, no one had questioned it further—even his own supporters were getting tired of his bullying and lust for power. Percy wondered if Octavian wasn't a legacy of Zeus instead of Apollo, his lust for power was terrible.

And then, of course, Gaea had sent the fourteen giants against them. She'd probably thought that she could kill the seven of the prophecy off before they finished their quest—Gods after all wouldn't break the ancient laws to fight besides their children during a quest.

Thank the Gods for Artemis and Hestia. If those two hadn't spoken up, Zeus wouldn't even have realized that the threat his son was facing was more than mere death; Porphyrion had promised him obliteration and the fact that he would be erased off the memory of every single being on the planet, whether they be minor god or primordial, had sorted of sealed the deal.

That had shaken up Zeus enough so that he had declared that the quest be put on hold while the pantheon fought beside their children against the giants.

The Argo II, of course, got trashed. First casualty, as it happened. _Only fair, really. I mean, what kind of a lumbering oaf of an idiot decides to keep it airborne when we could clearly see the giants coming._

Leo was crying over his baby; it was so pitiful to see that Percy had almost wanted to knock him out so he would shut the whining and be less useless during the fight. But then, Leo had fought like a demon beside his father against the giants, and Percy didn't say another word to him.

One by one the giants had fallen against the combined assault of the pantheon and the demigods. Gration was pinned down by salvoes of arrows from both the twins and Frank, while Alcyoneus had been clobbered to fine dust by Ares and Hazel. Hazel of all people was the least affected when facing her father's nemesis. Percy had been both amazed and happy that he had such a team with him. Friends who were powerful enough together to blow apart half the United States.

Jason had fought Polybotes and pestered him with lightning upon lightning until his father threw him the masterbolt. The masterbolt, combined with Jason strongest lightning, knocked back Polybotes far enough so that Percy had enough time to mutilate him in all kinds of places while flying by on Blackjack. A sharp kick from Poseidon sent him back to his mommy.

As the giants fell, Gaea got mad. _She started to get seriously mad. _She herself came by and tried to join the fight in time to be able to help her children. Unfortunately, she was late. The fight against the giants itself hadn't lasted too long. Outnumbering them certainly helped. But now Gaea was in front of them, and _she was pissed._

Hera was the first to get backhanded. Then some of the demigods bit the dust. Literally. The welt was visible for a few days afterwards, and Percy chuckled inwardly at Hera's _misfortune_, even if she was on his side. _That's what you get for all the pain you caused to us._

But Gaea hadn't been able to do much after initial contact; the thirteen remaining from the pantheon had zapped her with their symbols of power while Percy, Jason, Leo and Hazel had tried to make up for the lack of Hera with their powers. Gaea had been knocked out, and she'd dissolved back into the earth, forced back into deep slumber. The pantheon and Percy had thought themselves finally rid of her for another age. It didn't matter that the doors of Death hadn't been found, Thanatos was taking care of his property.

_Of course, _that_ was never meant to be. How in Hades had she been able to break Typhon's chains anyways?_ Then a sudden realization came over Percy. Of course. She hadn't joined the fight because she was busy freeing Typhon. _Well great job Percy. How do we fight this legendary son of a gun anyways?_

The gods and the rest of the demigods still walking around after the fight had gotten their respite. Three short days before Tyson came in with the news that Typhon had broken through his chains and was awake. Apparently, he hadn't had enough from last time, because he was heading towards Mount Olympus. Again. _You'd think he'd get the hint. You're not frigging wanted! GO AWAY!_

And now the four remaining uninjured demigods and pantheon minus Hera had come to face Typhon. The battle started off well enough. Athena's plans seemed to work. Then Typhon started roaring.

"I CANNOT BE HELD BY MERE FETTERS! Run now, puny gods, and I will let you be my slaves!"

_We'll see about that._

Then he started moving forward towards us. _Oh what the Hades! That was a full masterbolt to the face! How is he stronger than last time!_ Percy was cursing under his breath. Hades let him be, because he was annoyed as well.

Somehow, Poseidon strayed too far within his reach; maybe he was aiming his trident at Typhon's eyes or something, but what happened next shocked the gods to their core. Typhon took a large bite out of the air around him and swallowed Poseidon whole.

Something inside Percy snapped. While the pantheon watched, unable to move, horror-struck, four of them recalling some _very_ bad memories, Percy started gathering the sea around him. It rose up around him in a massive tornado and hurricane. As Typhon looked at the other gods in glee, Percy surrounded himself with massive amount of water and shaped it in a gargantuan replica of himself. He drew up to full height, shoulder to shoulder with Typhon.

The gods watched in fascination as Typhon's smirk changed into a frown.

"I see you've brought a primordial with you. How generous of you to offer yourself up to me! I promise to end your suffering quickly!"

The gods frowned at his words and then realized that he must have thought Percy to be a primordial. He certainly looked like he had enough power to be one.

The fight didn't last long. Typhon was not used to fighting an opponent of his own height. It was hardly fair. _ Poor guy must have only had training swatting flies. He doesn't even know how to punch properly. I'll end this quickly._

Brandishing a pillar of water big enough to destroy Olympus, he froze all the sea water in it. As shards fell off the pillar of their own accord so that the pillar turned into a massive replica of riptide, Percy punched Typhon in the guts with unnatural force. Unnatural even for their epic proportions, because Typhon flew back a few kilometres. Before he had time to sit up, Percy drove his ice replica of riptide through Typhon's stomach and ripped it open. A sickening crunch followed as he then punched _through_ Typhon's head and chest.

Typhon was chained without delay, and the gods checked for casualties. They had almost started the list when Poseidon emerged from Typhon's gut, whining about smelling horrible. Needless to say, everyone was overjoyed. Well, his brothers and sisters were. They had finally returned to the list, when someone asked where Percy was. The gods turned around to see the massive humanoid figure of water fall around from Percy, who seemed to have passed out, even though he was floating in the middle of it. The pantheon flashed the demigods back to the infirmary at Olympus while Poseidon sat beside Percy.

_Well, that hurt._ Understatement of the decade. His head was buzzing in pain, and Percy didn't know if this was worse than being dunked in the Styx, because it was concentrated to his head, with a migraine more head-splitting than the birth of Athena.

"Ah, Percy, you're finally up. Come on, you're the last one. Let's go see the council, yeah? They'll be annoyed with me if I don't get you there as quick as we can."

Percy looked at Apollo and then sighed. "Fine, flash us there then."

Chaos was glad Percy was alright, for some reason. He was definitely related to her. She watched silently as Apollo and Percy flashed in front of the gods, and Apollo took his seat. Percy went to his friends, and was tackled by more than half of them. Gasping for breath, he managed to get out a grunt that clamoured for air. As his friends got up and off of him, they started raging at him. Who did he think he was, taking on Typhon like that? How the heck did he even pull it off? How dare he scare Annabeth like that? The questions seemed endless, until the king of Olympus cleared his throat. The talk died down, and Percy turned to him.

Chaos was wondering what excuse Percy would come up with to explain his behaviour. Poseidon being swallowed was nowhere near enough to bring out his powers as a son of Chaos. She was positive he was her son; Typhon seemed to be a living proof of that. She decided to wait and see, that seemed to be what she used to do the most these past few eons.

The being watching over Chaos signed internally as he cursed himself for not thinking up of a better reason to cover up his son's induced tiny burst in power. He had forgotten that the tiny increase in power was actually formidable to a demigod. _I thought that forcing Typhon to swallow Poseidon might have been a good idea, mind! Don't tell me you don't agree?_ His 3rd mind stayed silent and went back to his part of the being's consciousness.

_Whatever happens, I hope that Percy explains himself like I intend him to. Otherwise I'd be in deep trouble. Son, don't get me in trouble. I don't need you on my backside as well. Sorry for knocking you out at the end there. The gods would expect that kind of reaction after the show of power._

When Chaos heard Percy's explanation, she frowned. This was not what she expected. She was going to need answers, and she'd get them _very_ soon.

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**So, how was it? I'd like a few people to get to the poll on my profile before continuing with my story, because it's kind of becoming essential, and I can only hold it off indefinitely for a short amount of time. **

**I'll welcome all kinds of reviews, though. :)**

**A la prochaine fois, mes amis. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks to all of you who have decided to follow and favourite this story, I'm extremely grateful!**

**Right now in the lead are Pertemis and Perzoë, although Perchaos is trailing behind by one vote. So choose quickly, and we'll see how it goes!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

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Athena was annoyed. That idiot of a sea-spawn had managed to save them _again._ He was _not_ going to stray her little Annabeth from her path to greatness. She needed to make sure of that. Bloody son of Poseidon. Her daughter wouldn't even listen to _her_, her own _mother._ What kind of a sick spell did he put on her! _No, I'll make sure you don't ruin her further. I always have a plan. Just you wait and see, little sea-spawn._

Hera was grumbling in her room. After those _heroes_ had gotten their rewards for helping the gods, the sea-spawn had been questioned. The best answer he could come up with was the fact that he had seen Poseidon being eaten alive and that had caused him to snap. Zeus had asked Apollo to check for lies, and Apollo replied that Percy truly believed what he said. _What kind of a hero can snap and gain so much power from rage?_ Worse, that sea-spawn had insulted her. Maybe not publicly, but she noticed his snickers when he saw her face. _He's going to pay._ Besides, where was the guarantee that he wouldn't overthrow Zeus? _No, he has to be taken care of._

Athena wandered around Olympus before finally deciding to visit Hera. She did not like Percy; that much Athena was certain of, she would probably help her separate him and her daughter.

Hera frowned as she saw Athena knock at her window. _What possessed her to come see me?_

Wiping the frown from her face she opened the glass door separating them and ushered Athena in.

"What can I help you with, my dear?"

Chaos was too engrossed in going through the life story of her new obsession to hear Athena and Hera scheming. The being watching over her, however, was not so occupied. He overheard every single word those two said, and when Athena left he reflected over what he'd heard. The plan wasn't evil, and it would definitely get Percy a bit sad, but he'd be fine from the break-up with Annabeth. It's not like he truly liked her anyways. _And it might just get Percy to remember his real identity. Maybe then he'd break out of the stupid rebirth cycle._

Unknown to him, however, Hera was thinking different thoughts from the original plan. _Here's the perfect chance to get back at both Athena and Perseus. It'll be fun._ Hera smiled maliciously as she also had found a way to disgrace Percy while breaking up the couple.

Athena was wondering if she'd done the right thing when she had asked Hera to induce a small bit of madness to Percy when he next met up with Annabeth. He, of course, wouldn't be seeing things right, and wouldn't be acting according to the situation. _He will break up with you, my dear, and then you'll finally have your life ahead of you to achieve your potential._

Hera, of course, was overjoyed that she had found a way to damn the saviour of Olympus so royally. Of course! She'd make him go extremely mad, and just like the idiot Heracles, he wouldn't know friend from foe. He'd probably try to kill Annabeth after the conversation. _Well, I won't let her die, even if I don't like her. It'll be easier for me to switch Annabeth with a replica at the moment he's about to kill her, and then she'll be safe. _She'd let the council know that Annabeth was safe, and as such, no one would be able to get a concrete case against her. She'd turn into the saviour of a _demigod_, and Percy would get disgraced by his _camp_. _Perfect plan! Of course, I'll need Annabeth to comply as well, so I'll induce a slight bit of craziness into her as well._

Chaos had decided to look through the various past events in Percy's life; she had to know if he had that sort of power beforehand or if he had simply gotten it when he had fought Typhon. She went through all the different events in his life before, from when he had left Yancy right up to the conversation in the throne room.

She was getting annoyed; he must have gotten it at the moment of the fight against Typhon. She did not see any evidence of any kind of power in the scale of what she had seen during the fight. _So he really did awaken that power then. Interesting._ She would have to check if he was aware of his identity. If he was a true son of Chaos, then he'd be aware the second the power unleashed. That was an indicator put by Chaos herself, to identify any children she might have had._ Great, more stalking business._

Percy didn't understand what was going on. The argument between him and Annabeth made no sense, but he didn't seem to be able to stop himself. Then, Annabeth started dishing out low blows. Percy was getting worked up into a rage, but this wasn't him. No, this couldn't be him. Annabeth was seriously hurting him right now. He couldn't believe the things they were saying to each other. And suddenly, he snapped. Not quite like before, however; this seemed a direct consequence of his rage.

Percy wanted to stop, but he was a prisoner in his own mind, not in control of his actions. Too late, he realized that the power he wielded was enough to obliterate camp. He felt his control returning, but somehow, in the madness and confusion, the damage was done. Annabeth was no more.

He searched and searched through the wreckage that was his cabin, but all he could see was a spray of blood on the walls. Unable to comprehend his actions, he broke down.

Athena was _furious_. The council of the gods had been gathered in the throne room, waiting for an explanation from Hera and Athena. Many of the gods were annoyed, but the looks on the three eldest gods' faces were beyond scary. The three were royally _pissed._ Even Zeus, for he considered Percy in a new light every since his fight against Typhon. Percy was his favourite demigod after his own children, and now he was in a condition so heart-wrenching that even Ares was filled with pity. Hades had silently vowed revenge on whoever had done this to his nephew; it was thanks to him after all that Hades had a permanent presence on Olympus.

Hera had cursed silently when she had found out that Athena had called a council meeting. Then sighed loudly when Athena told the gods what had happened to Perseus and that it was partly due to a plan she herself had concocted. With the help of Hera, she had added, and now the council was looking at them.

Hera sighed and started explaining. Athena had come to her requesting her help in a certain _relationship_ problem she had. She asked Hera to induce a slight bit of madness in both Percy and Annabeth so they would break up and continue with their own lives.

Athena cut her off. "But now, Annabeth's not going to HAVE HER LIFE! YOU CAUSED HIM TO GO COMPLETELY MAD! HE KILLED HER!" Athena roaring was not something Hera wanted to keep hearing, so she continued explaining herself. She had only induced a slight bit of madness, the new power he had gained must have caused his rage and madness to increase tenfold, and therefore the power was at fault. Hera smiled internally; she had managed to portray Percy as an unstable power core about to blow off at the slightest mishap.

"Oh, and I was monitoring the situation. You see, Percy didn't kill Annabeth. I saved her before he lost it." With that, she brought flashed Annabeth into the throne room.

To say Athena was stunned was an understatement. _Hera_, of all people, had saved her daughter. The council was similarly stunted. The goddess who hated demigods the most had just saved her least favourite one. Poseidon was stumped; Hera had then truly not intended the madness that had taken place? He turned his attention to the matter of Percy.

"What about Percy, then? He is a wreck, he needs help!"

"Brother, there is one way to help him, but I fear it may be too late. The camp has just ousted him for his actions. Even though I do not agree with the decision, if the instability was truly caused by his immense increase in power then maybe it was not such a bad idea to isolate him from the other demigods."

The council turned towards Hestia. The counsel she gave was always the most just and wisest one. To hear her speak like that meant that something must have happened to Percy. Annabeth had decided she would have nothing more to do with Percy, she had seen the look on his face when he was about to kill her, and she swore herself into eternal service to her mother. Athena was pleased, but then she realized that this sort of behaviour might cause Annabeth to revert to loving Percy if he was allowed to apologize and explain himself and continue to try and get her.

It was quickly decided that the gods would fetch Percy and try to help him out of his misery. Dionysus himself would work with him to stabilize his madness. Hera smiled at the thought; _I've become the saint out of this debacle. Dionysus will get praised for his abilities to have been able to stabilize Percy so quickly, seeing as he won't sense any madness in him. This should be fun._

The pantheon agreed that they would not tell Percy that Annabeth had survived. It was better that he didn't try and follow Athena's daughter anymore. Poseidon saw nothing wrong with this, and they also agreed to comfort Percy by explaining to him that it was not his fault he had lost control, it was simply the fact that he needed to adjust to the immense increase in his power, and that caused him to be unstable mentally and physically for a short while.

Chaos was disturbed by the whole proceedings. She knew that the talk about the power causing him to become unstable was a complete lie. _Well, at least the gods are set on bringing him back to a proper state of mind. I don't suppose it makes too much of a difference anyways. Let's see what they decide to do with him, I'll act accordingly._

The being watching Chaos was angry. Then he chuckled darkly. If Percy ever found out what Hera had actually done, she would be in deep trouble. _Forgive me, my son, I didn't expect her to stray from the plan they had discussed. I should have read her mind._

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**So, how do you think that went? Next chapter is where things start to get _extremely_ interesting. I'll try and put it up quickly, review and comment on the things you're not really happy about, and I'll definitely see what I can do.**

**Cheers!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! Don't read this A/N if you don't want SPOILERS till the end of the chapter.**

**Thanks to all of you for your continued support! As always, it truly means a lot to me! **

**Due to Pertemis being a lead pairing in the polls, I'm forced to introduce a guardian of Artemis – like part to this story, but I would like to assure you all that it is not going to be the main plot. This is simply to satisfy dramatic necessity. Besides, it will have **_**nothing**_** to do with the tons of Guardians of the hunt stories out there. Okay, maybe a tiny bit. I've always admired them anyways. :)**

**Besides, he's not going to remain in the hunt for long; though how he leaves will not be for a few more chapters. ;)**

**Just to clear up: The pairing has NOT yet been decided.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own PJO or HoO.**

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Apollo was flying high in the sky on his maserati, scanning the ground for the son of Poseidon. He had volunteered and had been volunteered to fetch the demigod. He didn't mind; he really liked Percy, especially after the hero had saved his sister, his children, the whole pantheon... The list went on.

After hours of roaming, he found a familiar figure running from the top of a cliff and saw that he was about to throw himself on the rocks far below.

_Oh no you don't. _

Apollo reached him just as he jumped off the cliff and caught him by the scruff of his neck and knocked the demigod out cold. _Sorry Perce, but it's easier for the both of us this way. We're gonna fix you man, I promise._

And with that, he set his car on auto-pilot and flashed in the throne room on Olympus.

The gods were discussing young Perseus' fate when Apollo and the young man in question appeared. Poseidon immediately summoned a stretcher and a comfortable sofa while Apollo laid him onto it. After that was done, he went back up to his throne and joined the conversation.

Hera was listening to their ideas about how to deal with him in a way that would do the least damage possible. She frowned. Percy had already been disgraced from camp, and he had lost Annabeth. Maybe she had been a bit harsh, but he _had_ insulted her, during his quests _and_ after the battle. She sighed; she might as well act kinder towards him: he _had_ saved her family more than once.

Chaos was watching the proceedings with a slight bit of impatience. She felt she was going to be needed at a certain point during the meeting, she just was not sure at what point she would make her appearance. _Oh! I know! The gods are probably going to get Percy to swear on something. I'll make him swear by __**me**__ as well as the Styx. He won't be able to deny his powers then. _When Chaos herself appeared to her children, they became self-aware and gained immense power. At least, that's what had happened to Gaea and the others. Why would Perseus be any different?

"I suggest an idea completely different to what you all have proposed, but from what I believe, I think it will be the best idea around." Hera had spoken loud enough for the whole council to look at her questioningly.

She told them of her plan: why not alter Perseus' memories a bit? Make him believe that the conversation that led to his break up with Annabeth was heartfelt, and then alter the memory of almost killing Annabeth with another where Annabeth gave him Hades and left camp. Then, alter the memories of the campers so that they don't see him destroying the Poseidon cabin, simply destroying his relationship with Annabeth, but in a way such that the campers still dislike him.

Athena liked the sound of that plan. Annabeth would be free of the sea-spawn, and it was as certain as the fact that she was the wisdom goddess. Yes, she liked the plan. Percy himself would stay away from her daughter, and Athena would not even have to feel guilty in any way about the break-up! _And Annabeth made herself quite clear on the matter—she did not want to have anything to do with Percy anymore._ _How judicious of my stepmother._ Athena was impressed, her newfound respect for Hera growing. Then the conversation took an unexpected turn.

"Of course, he is going to need to be under the tutelage of one of us if he is to learn to control the power that he has acquired."

The whole pantheon turned and looked at Zeus. They were both shocked and impressed that he didn't consider Percy a threat to his power; but Zeus knew better. Children of the Sea had immense strength and power. However, they had an even greater force controlling them, personal loyalty. Athena had pegged it as a fatal flaw, but Zeus knew that even Athena was wrong at times, and in this respect, she couldn't be further from the truth. Zeus trusted the children of his brother to be intensely loyal to those they cared for and their extended families. Percy would be the perfect protector. However, he needed a mentor.

Noticing that the other gods were still looking at him incredulously, Zeus sighed. He explained that Percy would be more likely to recover from relapsing into madness if he had a mentor who was able to challenge him properly and help him grow out of his ties and links with Annabeth, in case at some point or another his memories resurfaced.

"And so, I suggest a female mentor for him. Now, do we have volunteers?"

Hera looked sideways at her husband. The plan had merits, but she didn't like the fact that Percy would become a daily sight on Olympus. Then her eyes narrowed. Who would be willing to train Percy?

Of course, Poseidon might have wanted to, but between Amphitrite and the runaway runts from Oceanus, he had his hands full. Athena was looking pointedly away, not even bothering to pay attention to the discussion. Hestia looked like she might have wanted to, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to work through Percy's safeguards if he decided to use his full power over water on her. Hera was completely out of the question; Zeus didn't bother asking her. Demeter was simply not interested and Zeus was about to ask Hestia again, but then Aphrodite stepped up.

"I'll do it. I'll train him. I'll be perfect for his hea... I mean his water powers. I can protect myself if he loses control. Besides I'll be able to call upon Dionysus if necessary, correct?"

Poseidon was startled; he didn't expect Aphrodite to come up with arguments that were half-decent. But he knew just as well as Zeus that things would get ugly if Aphrodite was involved. _Figuratively speaking, of course._ Aphrodite started to charmspeak the others into agreeing with her arguments while Poseidon was getting frantic. Percy didn't need this after all he had been through.

"Enough!" Zeus thundered as the council snapped out of their trance-like state. Aphrodite looked like she might argue but then decided against it.

"Aphrodite, as reasonable as your arguments may be, your ...uh... situation and title would affect Percy. Besides, if we know him as well as we think we do, we _know_ he would not agree to this."

Hera turned to Zeus and muttered quietly in his ears. Zeus looked flabbergasted for a second, but then a look of understanding came over him and he calmed down. He whispered what Hera had said to Hades and Poseidon, and even though the latter wanted to say something, he found he couldn't come up with a reason against it. As the brothers agreed, Zeus turned to the council.

"Artemis, how do you feel about guiding this young demigod? Actually, it would be best if you felt positively about this, we have run out of options, and you are the only one _overqualified_ for this duty."

"But, father, even if you force it on me, what will the hunt..."

Zeus cut her off right there. "The hunt will accept him like we have accepted Perseus. He is a good hero, and I'm certain we are doing the right thing here. I won't hear any more against this matter."

Artemis was cursing under her breath; this was most definitely _not_ what she wanted. Sure, Perseus Jackson had saved her once. _Or thrice._ That did not mean that she would willingly do as her father asked. It was against everything she stood for! Her hunt would not comply easily, she knew as much.

_Oh well, Perseus better be prepared. He is in for one heck of a ride._

Artemis did not bother paying attention to the reasons Zeus was listing after he had ordered her to comply. It looked like he was finishing, anyways. "... archery. He most certainly needs help in_ that_ domain." All the gods chuckled at his words. Poseidon looked a bit miffed at his words but then lightened up. He agreed with them, he was hopeless at Archery.

"Let us rework his memories. Apollo, wake him once we are finished."

Chaos was thinking quietly through the process. She would have to bless Percy if he was to survive the tortures he was about to suffer as a member of the hunt. _I suspect the other gods will want to bless him as well. He'll one heck of a powerful kid._ She didn't have anything against that, so she figured she'd let them bless him.

The being watching over Chaos snapped to attention. This was not good. If the gods were to bless Percy, they would expect him to get their powers. He sighed softly; he was going to unlock a lot of his son's powers today if Percy was to keep his cover. He needed to know what Chaos' blessing entailed. She was not powerful enough to be able to bless his son, much less any of the Olympians in the room. _Oh well, if this helps him break out of the stupid cycle quicker, then why not?_ He would just have to pay extra attention and read into everyone's minds what they were planning for his son. One wrong move and his son would have a lot more explaining to do than he would like to. _Okay, so they're tampering with his memories now, are they? I'll have to shield the immense consciousness that's hiding behind the facade that is Percy Jackson's identity._ _No worries._

Half an hour later, Percy Jackson woke up. He remembered the events that had transpired before, and then got gloomy. Why was he on Olympus in the first place? Then he got flashed. Not in the way he would have appreciated, but now he faced the pantheon.

After giving him the ultimatum, Zeus decided to show a softer side. He stood up and went next to Percy. Looking him in the eye, he sent Percy a vision of how being the Guardian of Artemis, and by extension, the hunt, would favour the world. Percy, impressed by the vision he saw, turned to Artemis.

"Milady, would you truly accept me into you service as your protector? Would you allow me to be the Guardian?" Percy questioned while staring directly into Artemis' eyes. She sighed lightly, almost imperceptibly.

"Yes, yes. I do not seem to have much choice in that regard, but I'll say it this once: I would allow it to be so."

Chaos decided this was the opportune moment. She would make her appearance at his words.

"Then, milady, I swear on the Styx and by Chaos that I, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon will serve you as your protector and hold the position of Guardian of Artemis, and if necessary, the hunt, to the utmost of my ability. I will not fail you in this until the time when you release me of this oath. This, I promise."

The gods looked at one another, baffled at the seriousness with which Percy took his oath, and Zeus was smiling. _I was not wrong in trusting this boy._

Just as the gods were about to start talking, a black mist filled the place next to Percy. It formed the figure of a young woman in her early twenties. The pantheon looked confused at her before her voice reverberated throughout the throne room.

"Perseus Jackson, you have invoked my name in an oath. Do you know of the consequences of such an oath?" Chaos half-expected him to know, seeing as he should be self-aware by now, as she had introduced herself, albeit indirectly. She went on before he could answer.

"This oath is truly binding. You cannot break it, even if you intend to do so, it just simply isn't possible. I have taken an interest in you, Perseus Jackson, and therefore I allow you to keep this oath. In fact, I will bless you so that you may last longer than a mere meat shield in your duty."

The whole pantheon looked at her, stunned. Chaos was going to bless Percy? Hera shivered at the thought; the _boy_ had enough power without creation deciding to meddle with the matter.

The being watching over the situation read Chaos' mind. He acted accordingly, and then noticed that the other gods had finally decided that they would bless Percy as well. He did what was required and quietly faded to the background, unseen to everyone in the room.

"I have strengthened you, Perseus, and I mean this quite literally. Your mortal coil should be able to sustain a lot more damage, and your bone structure has been modified into my metal. Chaos metal is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible, and I have only created a short amount of it in this existence." Chaos left without another word, it was clear Percy was not self-aware. He had not recognized her when he had seen her, and his eyes had betrayed no emotion, no recollection as she had turned him into a two-ton, light-footed battle grunt. She pondered over him. _So he's not related to me directly. I'll keep an eye on him over the next few months. Let's see if something interesting pops up._

Hestia came forward and asked Percy to become her Champion. He of course gladly complied; Hestia was his favourite goddess. As soon as he accepted, Percy felt the warmth around him increase, he felt great in the sudden increase in temperature, and he could see all the Olympians shift in comfort, and the fire burning in the hearth next to the thrones burned brighter. He knew he could create, nurture and extinguish a fire. He bowed deeply to his Goddess, and she went back and sat down with the others.

Next was Hephaestus, and he gave him a small pouch. When he inquired, he got the answer that he could keep pulling miniature automatons out of the pouch and they would grow to full size. _Perfect to train against, I suppose._

Hades gave him free passage to and fro the Underworld, while Demeter blessed him with herbal knowledge of all kinds. _I guess that's not half bad._ Dionysus said he had already helped him, and he decided, wisely, not to inquire further. Athena, being forced to show herself above a petty squabble, had to come up with something, so she blessed him with the ability to make split-second decisions.

_Fat lot of help that is. I already take split-second decisions all the time. Thanks, Athena._

Aphrodite managed to bless him against his wishes, and he glowed for a bit before noticing that his looks had improved ever so slightly.

"If you accept my blessing, the effect will increase, Percy!"

"Erm, thanks, but I think I'll pass. I am sort of going into an atmosphere of pure man-hate. I do _not _want more trouble."

Hermes said that his mail would be instantaneous; he'd just have to think about Hermes before sending his mail. Apollo blessed him with increased musical talents; he thought it would be useless to bless a son of Poseidon with archery. Percy couldn't agree more.

Ares changed into Mars. He explained that Ares would never be caught dead blessing Percy, and he gave Percy the ability to know exactly how many enemies he was facing in any given fight.

_I suppose he could have done a lot worse. I guess I'll be able to use that ability as a scout or something._

When Percy turned towards the elder gods, Hera said that he was alive, that was her blessing to him. Percy quickly turned away from her, and then he heard Poseidon speak to him in his mind.

_Son, I've given you the ability to liquefy yourself. You will be able to travel anywhere a molecule can. Also, you can travel great distances in liquid form, and go at quite a quick pace. Should help you a lot._ Percy thanked him through his prayers; he was about to ask Artemis what to do next when Zeus spoke in his mind.

_I have done you a great courtesy, hero, but here is a better one. I allow you to travel through my domain. And because you are my favourite nephew, you can use your liquid travel form at full capacity. _Percy was going to ask what that meant when Zeus cleared it up. _The speed with which you travel at will multiply._ After praying another thank you, Percy turned to Artemis.

"Where to now, Lady Artemis?"

The true father of Perseus Jackson had finished his business in the throne room and congratulated himself. None of the gods would be any wiser, and he was certain even Percy himself wasn't fully aware that there was more to Hestia's blessing than he had originally thought. He went back to checking up on Chaos and left his son to Artemis.

"Meet me at the site of your first fight with the manticore, Perseus. The hunters have set up camp nearby." Without another word, Artemis flashed out. The rest of the council followed.

Percy grumbled. If only she would flash _with_ him. He was about to run to Apollo for a ride when he suddenly fell on his back, unconscious.

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**So, what did you guys think of this one? I personally thought I rambled over the council a lot, but I liked it. Hera might seem OOC, but who knows what IC truly is with a crazy cow lady anyways. **

**Reviews please! I value your opinion(s)! Also, Poll will be up for another chapter. Check my profile if you want your favourite pairing to win.**

**Next update will probably be tomorrow morning, if the past few updates are any indication.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter; the one after this might take some more time than expected.**

**Anyways, Perchaos and Pertemis are currently the lead pairings. I personally like both, so you'll definitely see a twist in the story sometime soon. Also, I'm going to end the poll after the next chapter, so you better vote if you want a definite winner. **

**Thank you all for nice comments and reviews! I can't thank all of you enough. I also saw that I reached over 600 views just from the first three chapters. I'm glad you guys liked them!**

**Disclaimer: Me no own PJO or HoO. Thank you.**

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_What the void!_ Chaos had turned away from Percy for _one_ second and he had managed to disappear from her vision _completely._ Not a single sign or trace of him anywhere. How was this even possible? _Nothing_ should be able to escape her sight; whether they be dead, alive, faded or immortal. The only place Chaos couldn't look through was the void; but then again, no one could. She was sure Percy was not in the void; he didn't have the means to get there.

She was right, of course. Percy was still on earth, at the hunter's encampment. His true father had knocked him out; Percy was not going to be able to hide the truth from Apollo, even if he didn't know it himself. Percy would have flashed to the encampment, unwittingly, and he couldn't have that happening without many questions being asked. _Although, this is a nice chance to surprise Artemis. I'll let the hunt find out that they have a new member, and then Percy will walk in. That should tell Artemis to never underestimate my son._

Of course, Percy would be completely oblivious to the fact that his true father had flashed him to camp. He would think that it was the liquid-travelling that got him there in time. At least, that's what the tampered memory would elucidate, once pried. _It's a surprise you don't have a migraine the size of a star with all the meddling with your memories that's been taking place, son._ _This all will change soon; I'll make sure of it. Even if I don't, I'm sure Chaos will think of something._ After all, he couldn't announce his presence like Chaos could. He would tear the fabric of the multiverses if those he revealed himself to could not accept him.

He sat back down in a comfortable armchair and watched the scene unfold before him. Just as he was about to wake Percy, he remembered to take away the shield from Chaos so she wouldn't freak.

Not that is was much help to Chaos. She was stunned to see Percy reappear in her vision at the encampment. _Maybe the liquid travelling power Zeus talked about caused him to move so quickly I momentarily lost track of him._ She sounded doubtful even to herself. No, there had to be more to this occurrence than simple vaporization.

Chaos was starting to get slightly spooked. What was going on with Percy and the weird occurrences around him? He was not good for her universe. The anomalies surrounding him needed to be verified. Was he being influenced by some unknown beast from the void? No, that couldn't be it, the occurrences were mostly beneficial, and the events leading to those seemed to be plausible enough.

Percy woke up, and he was happy. Liquid-travelling seemed awesome! He couldn't believe he had travelled so far in such a short amount of time. The hunter's encampment looked interesting. The tents seemed to be rather big, and he remembered Thalia saying that they could take them anywhere and at any speed. Percy figured they would have some sort of mechanism to help with the packing, but he didn't ponder on that too much. Right now, he needed to see a certain goddess and her hunt.

He arrived just as she had finished explaining to her hunters that she was going to be getting a good man as the Guardian. Apparently, the hunters had already been talking about for a while, because he heard Artemis say that the guardian would not be here for some time since she herself had flashed herself to the camp barely five minutes before.

Percy decided he would surprise them all. He took one look at the campfire and saw that the hunters were at a safe distance around it in a semicircle. _Perfect. Let's see if my blessing are as good as I think they are._

Percy jumped up extremely high, his new muscle composition and bone structure allowed him to achieve superhuman feats, but they were only slightly better than the demigod standard ones. After all, comparing himself to normal humans was not exactly fair. As he reached maximum height, he erupted into bright blue flames. Then, he began to fall down towards the flame around which the hunters were seated.

Artemis had just finished answering the last question when she saw something erupt (into what was it, _blue_ flames?) in the sky. Then that thing plummeted down and plunged into the fire in front of her.

As she was about to draw her bow, a familiar figure in flames walked out of fire and kneeled himself in front of her.

To say the hunters were shocked was an understatement. A sudden eruption turned into the kneeling being in front of them? Thalia, out of them, was incredulous. _Percy is the guardian? What the Hades? How did he become so powerful? And since when could he turn himself into flames?_

"Thalia, hunters, this is Perseus Jackson, Guardian of Me. He has pledged himself to my service, and thus, by extension, he has pledged himself to your protection. Welcome him into the Hunt."

Chaos had no doubt that the whole hunt would start arguing and complaining, so she caused (or at least, she thought she did) Percy to radiate an immense amount of power. Percy looked confusedly at the hunters. _Okay, why aren't they saying anything against me? What is it; do I have something on my face?_ As Percy started to run his hand through his hair, he saw something that scared him. His hand was _glowing_. He tried to shake the glow off his hand, unnerved by the sudden power that seemed to seep from him.

Artemis and the others wondered if this was part of Chaos' blessing or if this was his own power; he certainly seemed capable of holding that much in him. Then, one by one, they started laughing at his idiocy. Trying to shake off the intense glow from his hands, Percy had managed to wiggle his whole body like a worm and had tripped over one of the logs.

_So much for an entrance,_ Percy sighed internally. His fear factor was crumbling, and he was mere _boy_ again in the eyes of the hunt. _Well, there goes that door._

The hunters snorted as Artemis, sniggering, told them to gather for dinner, and went back to their activities. Percy was confused.

"Lady Artemis, erm, why are they not gathering for dinner?"

"Perseus," she said, trying to wipe the smirk from her face, "that was simply to get them away from your blunders. Dinner isn't for another hour. Come, I'll, ah, _introduce_ you to your duties. Hurry up, now."

"Du-Duties, milady?"

"That's Lady Artemis to you, boy. Yes, duties. Or did you expect to stay with us without doing anything?"

Percy stuttered a no and then learnt his duties. After seeing the list of them, he went off and started to do the first one: washing the large pile of clothes next to the water. After an hour of washing, drying, and hanging, he saw the hunters joining a dinner table that had popped out of nowhere. He imitated them, and just as was about to sit down at the table, the hunters glowered at him. Stumbling backwards, he saw that they had left a small stool and a place far away from the head of the table. He sighed and went to sit down there.

After dinner, Artemis told him to stand guard right outside camp. He complied, and then noticed everyone else going into their tents. Not being quite sure what Artemis had meant when she had instructed him to guard the camp, he figured his best bet at keeping up his duty and thus staying alive was to keep doing as instructed. So he stood watch, hour after hour.

At some time, deep in the night, he heard something approaching. Pulling out his sword, he opened up his sense. Whatever was approaching him was too small to be a god or titan. He wasn't sure, but from the water-content in its body, he was almost certain that it was smaller than a human.

As it turns out, he was right. His true father had decided he would need some sort of recompense for putting up with this kind of behaviour, and he knew that Percy would have to continue putting up with this behaviour for some time at least.

Therefore, he had made a small white wolf cub appear next to the camp, and her silent whimpering was noticed by Percy. His heart melted at the sight and he edged towards the little cub.

"Hey, little wolfie! How did you get here? Come here, I won't hurt you, I promise."

As if the wolf could understand him, she came towards him and looked at him expectantly. He sighed softly at her and picked her up. "And what's your name, sweetie?" Not really expecting an answer, Percy just stared into her eyes. She had been whimpering before, but now she had calmed down.

_My name is Little Light, Lord._ Percy did a double take as he heard the cub speak in his mind. He almost dropped her when he heard her, but now she licked him and he could feel _something_ in his mind telling him that it was completely normal that he could talk to the wolf. He asked her why she called him lord, and the answer he received left him quite perplexed. When did he become the overlord of wolves? What was he, a monster? He remembered Jason and Thalia talking about how they had faced Lycaon, the wolf-man. Was he now something like that?

Little Light reassured him and comforted him; he was no monster, he simply commanded the respect of all wolves in existence, normal or mythical. Of course, now he had to take care of her, since she had moon-bonded with him. He backed up, what the Hades was a moon-bond? _Lord, every century, a wolf gets the opportunity to share a mental and physical bond with one being of their own choosing. Usually, this is a mate, but in other cases, such as with the Norse, it was to develop friendship and understanding between different races. I will now follow you anywhere, and I am now a part of your mind. Please accept me, my lord. _

As Percy felt her in his mind he wondered what he would do with her. The hunters would definitely ask questions, and so would Artemis. He just didn't know if they would let him keep his little girl...cub... with him. _Do not worry, my lord, there are bonded wolves in this pack, I feel them. Tell them what you want, but they would not doubt that I have bonded with you, and as such I am a part of wherever you are, and whatever oath you have taken is mine as well._

Percy sighed; here was another unfortunate soul that he had subjected to pain. _I will be fine, lord, put your trust in me. _Percy wondered how the cub could be so intelligent at her age. _I was not always a cub, lord._

If Percy was bothered by what he heard, he did not show it. He was, however, _very_ troubled. Here was some being that had bonded with him and he wasn't even sure that she was a wolf. He instructed her to enjoy her sleep, as he would definitely be needed in the morning, and she would probably wake from what he would be doing. He pointed towards his tent, and then relented as he saw that Little Light had curled herself around his feet and was sleeping with the slightest of wolf-snores. He went back to keeping watch, but as he saw some distant light in the east, he began to tire. The events of the previous day had tired him immensely, and now his eyelids were dropping. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he noticed that the hunters were coming up, Artemis at their head. He snapped out of his sleepiness, standing at attention as Artemis walked up to him.

"Perseus, when I said watch the camp, I meant watch it until night time. No one can take us by surprise; we have certain precautions against that."

Percy mentally kicked himself when he realized that he had lost a good night's sleep. He mumbled an apology and the hunters started snickering at him again. He couldn't care at the current moment though; he was beyond exhausted.

Chaos went back to watching his present time and wondered at how Percy could still be awake. The events that had transpired the day before had been so strenuous and tiring for the demigod that he should have been sleeping like a baby. Yet here he was, still standing, albeit quite awkwardly.

She decided to send Artemis a mental note and explain Perseus' situation. Just as she did so, Percy shuddered and dropped. The hunters were now laughing openly: only a boy would be so weak.

Artemis silenced them and told them to go on their own businesses. Then she asked Thalia to help her with the cub curled around Percy's feet while she transported him to his tent. As Thalia tried to get the cub away, she awoke and started growling at the pair of them. Thalia was stumped; a wolf had actually bonded with her cousin? _Yes, it would seem so. _She soothed the cub and told her she would bring her to her master's tent. The cub complied and Percy was laid on his stretcher in his tent. The hunters had not seen it fit to give him a bed, but he didn't complain.

He slumbered peacefully in a dreamless sleep, and Artemis watched him sleep. Not that she wanted to, but to make sure he didn't lose control in his sleep. Just because he was not dreaming at the current moment did not mean he wouldn't start dreaming at some point and then if he unleashed his powers on the camp they would _not_ be happy.

Chaos smirked as she heard Artemis' thoughts. _Keep telling yourself that, huntress. _In a way, though, it was a good thing. Chaos would be able to see for herself through Artemis' eyes any kind of anomaly that decided to show itself. She had her suspicions about the wolf, but she figured if he was truly the overlord of wolves it was completely normal. _Overlord of the wolves,_ she mused. _When did you pick up _that_ title, Percy?_ Probably an instinct that had developed when he saw Chaos.

She was half-right; Percy had begun to subconsciously regain a few of his inherent powers and abilities. His father kept them hidden and blocked, of course; it wouldn't do to have a being as powerful as a primordial roaming about with the huntresses, especially Artemis. If he had continued to reclaim his heritage without first shielding those around him, his presence would literally burn everyone and everything around him. He didn't need to know that, so long as his father kept doing his job properly. He sighed; _you'll be the end of me, son. Just get out of there already!_ But that was just wishful thinking. Percy had some duties to complete before he could break out.

It was not that the oaths would hold him; Chaos and the Styx had nothing on him. It was just that he had given his word, and his own word was more binding to him than anything in existence. _Fatal flaw my butt._

When Percy woke up from his slumber he noticed a very annoyed goddess staring at him. The conversation that ensued saw him flung straight into a pit right outside camp where he was told to create a pool and bath for the hunters. He complied, and just as he finished, Artemis put him to another task. And so he slaved, day after day, week after week, doing all the strenuous and painstaking tasks of the hunt. The hunters and Artemis were impressed by his attitude towards his work. He had not given up, no matter how much work had been stacked on his list. He seemed to cope extraordinarily well, too, so they had no qualms making him do everything.

Percy had fallen into a strict schedule, disciplined until his whole being burned with concentration. He did all that was required of him during the day, trained against automatons in the afternoon for hours, tried to practice archery in the evening before dinner, and all the while his little cub followed him around everywhere. She had started to grow—a consequence of his blessings or his oath, he wasn't sure—but now she was strong enough to fight against the veteran wolves in hunt and hold her own.

They had moved camp several times during the months, always tracking different monsters, runaways from the titan and giant wars, and so on. The hunters didn't really like Percy, but they held grudging respect for him. For a man, he did his job better than anyone expected him to. Better than any of the hunters would, too, but they were not going to admit something like that.

Percy's true father was satisfied with the way his son was doing, he had almost recovered most of the powers he could recover while in a mortal coil, even if he had no clue about his identity. Being the dutiful father, he kept every power hidden, of course. Chaos was minding her own business, he hadn't let her out of his watch, but she seemed to be a bit frustrated with Percy. He almost thought that Chaos had given up on tailing Percy.

Then came the day that would change the huntresses' lives for the foreseeable future.

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**That's another one down. Keep the reviews coming, please; I really like knowing what you guys think.**

**After next chapter the poll is going to be closed; be sure to finish the voting by then. If there's a tie at the end ... I'll burn that bridge if we get there.**

**Thanks to all for your continued support! It definitely helps to get the creative juices flowing.  
See you all at the next update!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Here comes chapter 6, fresh with some Percy bashing!**

**No worries, it's not too bad. I really like Percy and all, so he's going to redeem himself, trust me.**

**In other news, I'd like to spend a minute of silence for the Colorado shooting (I know most of us read silently anyways, but yeah, just go along with this).**

**Away from the depressing stuff, my special thanks to all of you guys who have reviewed and favourited/followed my story/me! I'm extremely grateful and happy that you guys like it. Also, please note that I'm closing the polls at the end of this chapter, giving you guys a 6 hour window after updating to finish. Pertemis seems to be in the lead, Perchaos trailing behind by only 2 votes.**

**By the way, anyone who can guess who Little Light truly is gets cookies. And previews.**

**Anyways, enough babble. Onto the good stuff!**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of repeating this. I don't own PJO. Nor do I own HoO.**

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Percy had been training with automatons for the previous hour when he finally noticed that the forest around their location had gone eerily quiet. It was troubling; not only for the fact that this was one of the busiest forests in the country, with animals bustling about everywhere; but also for the fact that the skies had darkened _significantly._ He decided this was one of two things: either a coincidence or something big and ugly was making an appearance. Being a demigod, he knew that the first option was wishful thinking.

He sighed and then jumped to the middle of camp. What he saw shocked him. Quite literally.

"Thalia, what the Hades!"

"Where the Hades were you? Camp is under attack!"

"What? Who—" Percy shut up as he noticed the grey haze at the border of camp was actually what looked like a gathering of rag-tag monsters of all shapes and sizes, led by Kâmpe. Percy swore.

"Where's Artemis? What measures have we taken—"

"You don't know where Artemis is?" Thalia looked crestfallen. She was hoping Percy knew where her lady was, but he was as clueless as her. That disturbed her.

"Okay, she probably went to flank them or something. Anyways, you don't need to worry about the monsters. Seems like the remnants of the last war decided to band together to try and get us."

"Why didn't they do that before?" Percy's ADHD kicked in before he could stop himself.

Thalia looked at him like she was about to get mad. "Gee, I don't know, Perce, maybe because they didn't have some powerful figure to lead them? Why do I care, just go protect Artemis, wherever she is. We've got the situation covered from here. I've sent teams of five hunters each to take out the vanguard from different sides. Trust us, we've got this part covered."

"Wait... vanguard? There are more?"

Thalia could have knocked him unconscious right there and then. Percy was wasting time, and time was of the essence in a situation like this. With immense self-control she decided against it. "Yes, Percy, just look behind the—" Thalia faltered. The main force seemed to have disappeared. She immediately realized that something was up.

"Percy! Artemis is in trouble! Go and find her! That was a ghost army, and I'm willing to bet my immortality this 'vanguard' is a diversion. Now go!"

Percy didn't need to be told a third time. He swore as he jumped over the army that was attacking and opened up his senses. He was almost knocked down when he felt a huge concentration of power three hundred yards to his right. Running there at speeds that rivalled the goddess of the hunt herself, he came upon the source of the disturbance.

Five figures stood in a pentagon with another two battling in the middle. They did not seem to notice Percy until he spoke up. Startled, they turned around; Percy got a good view of their faces.

In retrospect, demanding who they were was probably not the best idea. That _certainly_ did not help the two figures who were battling it out as if in an arena. _How could I have known that Artemis would have been fighting a Titan? And how did they even escape Tartarus anyways?_ After seeing him, Artemis had stumbled on something and the Titan she was facing got in a lucky hit. Knocking her out, and before giving Percy a chance to get them, the five figures flashed away to Chaos knew where.

And he was left, alone, to bring back news of his failure to Thalia. Percy was cursing under his breath; why was Artemis fighting them by herself in the first place? Percy had sworn an oath to protect Artemis, and he was failing. Miserably. _No, I'm going after her. I'll find a way._

Thalia and the rest of the hunters were in shock. Percy had just informed them of his failure and then had told them that he was leaving on her trail. _What trail, kelp head? They _flashed_ out, you moron._

Of course, he didn't give her a chance to tell him that. And with his stupid extra-powerful capabilities, he would easily distance her and the hunters. _First things first._ _Percy said five hooded titans. _It had barely been three years since the titans had fallen, this was definitely not a good thing. _Olympus needs to know._

Chaos was annoyed. Artemis had managed to get herself abducted, and now Percy, void knows how, was going to track her. _I suppose he'll be stumped at some point, and then he'll ask me for help._ Fine, she would wait until he asked her for help. That would be enough. Right now, she needed to look through a few things. Her grandchildren should still have been imprisoned in Tartarus; this was obviously not the case. _Time for a trip to Hades,_ she thought, and appeared at her destination the next instant.

The being overseeing the events wondered for a second. So Tartarus had decided to go against the Olympians, had he? Well, he would learn soon enough what kind of a mistake _that_ was. He had no doubts that Percy would set him back in his place, and this time it wouldn't be all flowers and daisies. _ I remember last time. _He chuckled. His son had talked Tartarus into safeguarding the deepest pits of earth, now known as the darkest pits of Erebus and Hades. Tartarus had been given many privileges, and it seemed like he needed to be reminded of his promise. _Very well, if Percy sees him, I'll work something out between them._

The Olympians were angry. The Titans had emerged again, and Artemis was a casualty—of sorts—but this did nothing to help their position. Apollo was extremely annoyed at Percy; the guy had _promised_ to protect his sister. Well, he would save her, like last time, or he was a dead man. Demigod, no difference.

Zeus sighed internally as the recent happenings were recounted. He was glad Thalia was safe, but Artemis was in trouble. _Second time in five years, my dear, you're getting out of touch._ At least Percy was on the case. He didn't doubt the fact that Percy would find a way to rescue her. He just wasn't sure how soon he would be able to do so.

_Trust my son, brother. I know I do._ Poseidon had been able to sense his brother's discomfort. Zeus was apprehensive; however, he trusted his brother and his nephew. Hades backed Poseidon and Percy vocally; Zeus was grateful for that. He did _not_ need to be accused of showing favouritism. With half the council backing Percy's decision, his vote would seal the deal. He called the vote. It went as he expected, and the council was dismissed. Thalia would try to find Percy's trail; the hunt had a target again. Except this time, they would try to help their target.

Percy _had_ to find Artemis. He could feel his lady in danger, and he was _not_ going to fail her again. He would need outside help, definitely. He just had to make sure he could work his way into the Titans' Lair. _I wonder...Might Iapetus help? It's definitely worth a try._ With that, Percy went on his way to the underworld. On the way to the doors of Orpheus, he noticed that Little Light had followed him, but was getting slightly out of breath from his extreme speed. He stopped and called out to her, pleading her to stay away and stay safe. The response he got was to be tackled to the ground by the big she-wolf, who then proceeded to lick his face. _All right, all right, baby girl, slow down._

Light sighed in his mind. _I wish you wouldn't call me that, my lord. I have grown a lot since I was a mere cub._ Percy chuckled before answering. She was still his baby girl. He then picked her up and started running with her.

Bob sighed. He didn't feel like doing much, and being the titan of mortality, he was one of the more powerful forces on the planet. He knew he had a past filled with hate and anguish, he was glad Percy had managed to turn him from that, even if it was purely by accident. _Well, it was intentional, but he would have been killed if he hadn't. Besides, at least he had a proper home and family in the Olympians now. _He had met Mnemosyne, a Titaness he had come to respect immensely. She had helped him, nurtured and cared for him while he was still fresh out of the Lethe. They had gotten engaged a few months previously, and he was one of the happiest immortals around. He would go and visit Percy, one of these days, and thank him for his help.

Hearing a call from his lovely fiancée who was out in the garden, he rushed downstairs to get to the door. _Maybe Hermes has come with some letters, _he thought excitedly. What he saw, however, made him even happier.

"Percy! Great to see you, old boy. I was just thinking about you! Speak of the devil." Bob smiled at him. He had decided to adopt this accent after Mnemosyne had asked him how he would like to show himself.

"Iapetus, you old fart. Where's your spear?" Percy said, jokingly. He knew Bob had turned a new leaf, and didn't like to be reminded of his past, even if he was not completely evil before. Percy marvelled at Mnemosyne; she had truly managed to turn him into a better man—or was it a Titan?—all around.

"Funny, Percy. Now tell me, what can I help you with? Because it seems to me you are in a hurry."

"Yeah, Bob, I need some help from both you and your fiancée."

"Percy! You naughty boy, you didn't let us know you would be coming!" said the Titaness in question, putting away the water-sprinkler.

"Hello Mnemosyne. Yeah, it was sort of unplanned." And with that, Percy started to explain the recent events.

After a good hour of speculation and frustration, Iapetus made a comment that took Percy by surprise.

"Damn Tartarus, I thought he would be happy. Why did he join the Titans?"

"Tartarus? Oh, no wonder they were released early. How could I have not seen this?"

It was decided. Percy would pay a visit to Tartarus; he was their best hope at finding the rest of the Titans. The pits of Tartarus were not far from the house; Hades had granted the two a nice place overlooking the Isle of the Blest, and given them permission to visit both Elysium and the Isle of the Blest. Hades figured they would be the most likely ones to protect the place in his absence; A Titan of mortality had links to the Styx, and a Titaness of Memory would definitely love the Lethe.

Chaos had her answers. She turned her attention to Percy, and was startled to find him very near her. How had he known? This was disturbing. She decided to follow him. She appeared at his location just as he was about to start running towards the pit, and made herself invisible. Percy, however, stopped right in front of her and bowed. _Did I not make myself inconspicuous? _

"Milady Chaos, to what pleasure do I owe this visit?"

It was too late to back out now; she had to find a solid reason to be there. She decided she would help him even if he knew. "I've come to tell you of Tartarus' location. I recently went and checked up on him. He seemed out of sorts, you might wish to see what is going on there."

"Yes of course, milady. Thank you for your assistance." With that, he bowed deeply again before leaving. Chaos left, frustrated. Percy seemed to be able to go against everything she knew. He was most _definitely_ intriguing her. She decided she would intervene if things started to go south for him (again).

Thalia had heard from Hades that Percy had entered his realm. Gathering her hunters, she prepared to get flashed into the Underworld; a favour from Hades. Right after that happened, Zeus appeared in an Iris message. Then she saw the rest of the pantheon, and straightened up a little. The information she received from them troubled her greatly. Her huntresses would be facing a lot more monsters if that was truly the case. After reassuring the hunters and clearing camp, the lot of them started speeding down the Underworld highway to Tartarus. One of the iPods was blaring 'highway to hell'. She smirked. This journey was going to be interesting.

Tartarus was howling in pain. _This cannot be happening! Gaea promised she would stop, especially after the visit from mother! I did all she asked!_ Torture was a novel concept to him, and he would have gladly passed the golden opportunity.

_This is to keep your assured loyalty, my dear. Nothing personal, I assure you._ The small part of Gaea that was still half-conscious happened to be her cruel side. _It just_ had _to be her cruel side._ He was starting to lose hope. Only one being he knew would save him now. The Olympians would probably believe him to be working against them. No, he could only get help from one being. He began to fervently pray to him. _Help me, master, I beg of you. I will serve you until you end us all, but I beg of you, help me!_

The armchair was starting to get uncomfortable; he had accidentally spilt some juice on the back, and couldn't lean back anymore. He sighed. He would have to help Tartarus instead of his son.

Tartarus felt his pain immediately lessening, and tears of gratitude started pouring down his face. _Thank you, master. I will not let you down, and I give you the Word that I will forever act and obey._

_Good,_ a voice in his head answered. _I will be coming to you shortly. Hold until then, for I can only help you if you keep holding on. I give you my Word, Tartarus; you will be rewarded and punished._

_Yes Master, I understand. Thank you for saving me._

With that done, he stood up to make himself a more comfortable armchair and went back to watching over Chaos. He decided it was safe to momentarily fully unleash Percy; just enough to physically help Tartarus. Then he'd put Tartarus back in control and alter the memories once more.

While he was busy making sure the events kept going in proper Order, he failed to notice that Thalia had almost managed to catch up with Percy. She was staying out of sight and sound, and doing a pretty good job of it. They had arrived at the entrance to the pit. Percy had jumped; he had left his wolf at the home of the Titans and had promised to be back within the hour, from what she had been able to hear. After telling her hunters to hide in the shadows and wait for her return from the pit within the next four hours, she had jumped after Percy.

Percy had reached Tartarus' abode. He had started to feel incredibly powerful; as if the closer he got to the target, the stronger he got. That only spurred him on faster, and soon he found himself in front of the black garden where dark, beautiful tree-like things grew from the dark soil. Tartarus was waiting near a small table. As soon as Percy saw him, he became self-aware.

Thalia watched the proceedings with intense fascination. Percy was talking to Tartarus; well at least words were being exchanged. She just didn't understand the words. How was Percy the master of Tartarus? And why was Tartarus grovelling before him? She focused her hearing, and the words took her completely by surprise.

"My lord, forgive me. I was tortured into this; I did not mean to go against the Word you had set for me."

"Rise, Tartarus. I know of your fate. However, I do need to give you a punishment: I'm going to need you to keep working for Gaea. Be a double agent, dear friend."

"Master, I am not deserving of such praise. I will do as you ask, your word is law."

"Good, Tartarus. Remember; to thine own self always be true."

"Yes Lord. Thank you again, for everything."

"Do not let Elpis free, child. I will keep you to the Word, Tartarus. You _will _be rewarded for your hardships."

Thalia was now getting spooked. Who was Percy? How could he address Tartarus, one of the oldest deities know to this world, as a _child_? Was this somehow Chaos, personified through Percy? No, that could not be, he seemed to recognize Percy on sight. _As if...as if he was expecting him. And didn't Chaos already visit Tartarus? That's what Phoebe said when she reported her findings to the hunt._ She decided she would follow Percy and then confront at a certain point in time.

Perseus Jackson, as he was now called, glided quietly through the pit. He already knew where Artemis was being held, he knew what the Titans were plotting, and what was going on the far end of the universe as well. He could have snapped his fingers and set the world straight, but that would have gotten him noticed by Chaos and Artemis would be asking questions as well. Besides, he believed in giving chances; he wanted to give the Titans a chance to redeem themselves. He had noticed Thalia the moment he had become self-aware, and decided it was time to impress a few things upon the young girl.

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, step out of the shadows. They do no justice to your face."

Thalia was shocked. He had known all along, hadn't he? She gulped audibly and bravely walked out into the ethereal light of the pit.

"Pe-Percy, is th-that you?" She stuttered and fell to her knees. She was getting afraid now, thinking over the many times she had zapped and insulted her cousin.

"Do not fear me, child, I do not hold grudges. You would do well, however, to get up from your knees. I do not require your allegiance, nor do I ask anything from you."

Thalia frowned and got up when she noticed the twinkle Percy had in his eyes. Her own widened. "Percy! How dare you scare me like that! Who are you, anyways?"

"Relax, Pinecone Face. This isn't the first life I've lived. But that doesn't mean I'm stuck and snooty, you know? I just adapt my speech depending on who I'm talking to. As for who I am, well, you'll have to wait and find out. No, Athena won't be able to help. Chaos will, but I don't want you to talk to her about me, she doesn't know I'm going through this. You should have seen her face when she tried to bless me." Percy was smiling wide and grinning.

"Wait, how long did you know? And for how long are you going to be this way?"

"The answer to your first, Thalia, I think you already know. The second one, I'm afraid, is only until I get out of the pit. I agree with father; he will alter my memories so that I don't stay self-aware while going on my quest for Artemis. I've requested him to let you keep yours, though, so don't worry. However, I wouldn't go around repeating what you've seen here, understood?"

Thalia straightened up unconsciously before answering. "Yes of course, Percy." She didn't know Poseidon could do that, but for some reason she had a feeling that Percy wasn't talking about Poseidon when he said father.

"And lighten up, Thals. I've got this covered. You can let them try and follow me, if they want to. I promise, it's not going to help either of us. It's time for us to go now, Thals. Remember what I've said."

Thalia nodded and found herself right next to the Hunter's encampment. As she was rushed with questions, she answered all of them with a simple statement.

"Our lady is in good hands."

Percy stood up and was about to port himself out when he got face to face with the last person he wanted to see in all the multiverses. _Here's me in trouble again. I'm going to give that guy a piece of my mind one of these eons, I swear._

"Milady, what can I do for you?"

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**I personally really liked this one. But please, tell me what you guys think of it.**

**Also, just noticed I hit 1.1k views after that fifth chapter. Thanks again to all of you faithful followers!**

**I'll probably be back with the next update by tomorrow morning/afternoon. **

**Oh, and sorry if you think the story is moving too slowly. I'm trying to compensate by updating somewhat quickly. Don't worry, this story's just getting started. And yes, before you ask, it _is_ Chaos he has just met.**

**Poll is OPEN FOR 6 MORE HOURS! Take advantage of that. I know I would.**

**Cheers**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter 7!**

**By the way, the pairing is going to be Perchaos. Since the lead two tied, I chose, and I agree that there are way too many Pertemis fictions than Perchaos ones. Not that the original tryst I planned with Artemis won't be there, but don't expect pure and unbridled Pertemis.**

**I apologize for updating this a little later than I planned to; I needed the right inspiration for different scenes. Besides, I'm a slow writer: I'm stuck at 1.5k words an hour.**

**I'm leaving the Poll on my profile so people can see for themselves. I decided to fit in a few ideas suggested by different people, I hope you guys aren't mad at the lack of **_**action**_** in the story.**

**I'll definitely amend that next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.**

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Chaos' eyes were glistening with tears.

"Is it—Is it truly you?" She managed to choke out. Percy's heart melted at the sight.

"Chaos, it's really me, and I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you but—" As Percy was saying this he reached to cup her face in his hands. He only got so far before getting slapped. _Hard._

"How _dare_ you? After all these millennia, and all you can say is that you're _sorry_?" She shrieked. She was beyond mad. She was fuming. _He_ had dared to _abandon_ her, and now he was _sorry_? No, he was going to pay for that.

"Chaos, I promise, it was a necessity; I needed something from all these rebirths to be able to fight the end. You of all people _know_ how it is!" Percy implored. He cursed himself internally; this was going to get ugly. He needed to leave at this very moment, as well, Artemis was depending on him. _Well no exactly on me, since I won't be able to bust het out normally._ _But then again..._

"Are you _even_ listening to me?" Chaos was going to destroy the planet if she continued to get this mad. _Father, mind wipe her, please. She doesn't need this, not at this point in time. _

_Even the memories of meeting you, son?_

_Especially these recent ones. It will not do her any good knowing that I'm still trying to break out of my cycle. At best, she will be heartbroken; at worst we'll have catastrophes of galactic proportions._

_Very well, if you insist. _

Percy caught Chaos in his arms just as she was passing out. _Take her back to the edge of Tartarus, father, and please, wake her only after my own memory has been changed. I just have one request, though, father._

_What might that be?_

_Let me keep my memories of her. _

_Son, you know that cannot happen, you will have too many anomalies and holes in your memories if that happens. I'm sorry; I wish there was another way, but you cannot keep these memories._

Percy sighed. He knew his father was right; that didn't mean he had to like it. It crushed him to have seen Chaos that way. He had sorely missed her, just as she had missed him, apparently. Every time he waited for a rebirth he checked up on her. Every time, though, he had to disappoint his father. No, it was not yet time. One more rebirth. I'll find what I'm looking for, I'm sure. Yes father, I'll be back before you know it.

That had certainly gone on for longer than he had wanted. Now was not the time to linger on such thoughts, though. Artemis was in trouble, and she had six titans guarding her at the current point in time. That would have normally not been a problem, but Percy would not have been able to assume his true form, much less access his normal powers to flick them away; the moment he emerged from Tartarus his memories would get altered. Percy sighed. This was definitely one of the more eventful rebirths that he had been chosen for by the Fates.

_Sisters of Fate, _Percy grumbled, _you better keep the balance proper while I'm back in demigod form... Or else, you'll answer to me, and I'll know the reason why the Titans are ruling._

Atropos and Lakhesis shivered as they heard _his_ voice speak in their minds. The cowered as they thought the master was coming to them when Clotho told them that he was not around. All three relaxed slightly, and then decided they would stay on the master's good side. He was not someone you wanted as an enemy. Not only due to the fact that their immortalities or their control over the strings of fate and time would protect them from his rage, but also because the master spun the threads of the three fates as well as his own. They did not mind the servitude, nor did they relish it like some of the others the master commanded. However, he was a good lord, and the best one about.

_Yes lord. We will look after this world in your absence._

Satisfied, Percy put a lock on Artemis' location for when he would be back in demigod form. Right after that, he appeared at Bob's house.

Thalia was feeling incredibly euphoric. She did not think that she had any reason to, but somehow, seeing Percy had put her in this state. Was this an aftershock? She wasn't sure. However, she now understood why Tartarus had tears of joy running down his face after Percy had visited him. _I think I finally understand what Percy is._ _He said something about a father._ She tried to pray to Percy's father, referring to him by the name of Percy's true father, so as to avoid any confrontation with Poseidon. _ Please sir, I do not know how to address you, but please, keep Percy safe. He's a bit of a dolt in his demigod form._

He heard her prayer, of course, and to her complete delight answered her that he always watched over his son. Thalia decided to let the hunters rest. She had told them that Percy would be following a direct route to their goddess, and if anyone wanted to, they were welcome to following him. However, she also warned them that he did not want to be followed, as he did _not_ want to have to protect hunters as well as rescue Artemis while battling Titans.

The huntresses understood that Thalia had either seen or heard more than she wanted to reveal, but thankfully they did not press her with questions or demand an answer. They followed the Lieutenant; that was their duty. However, the majority voted to keep following Percy, if for nothing else just to make sure he didn't waltz straight into ambushes. They had come to respect him as a part of the hunt, and even if they did not necessarily show it, Percy's personality had gotten to them. Their brother would have his sisters watching over him.

As Percy went to pick up Little Light, he noticed that he could feel a pull that pointed towards the upper world. _So that's where Artemis is. I'll have to thank Tartarus for showing the way._

"Stay safe, dear. And come back to visit us after this whole affair is over."

"Of course, Mnemosyne. I wouldn't have it any other way. Bob, I'll probably pop by sometime or another, would you mind keeping a guest room open?"

"No, of course not. When you come back, though, you're going to be staying with us for a few days, lad."

Percy left with Little Light on his back and shoulder. _Did you have a good stay with the Titans, baby girl?_ Little Light scrunched her face at her name. _Yes, lord. They were very nice to me. They fed me solar flares, and I felt great._ Percy wondered what she meant by solar flares, then decided it was probably some sort of dog food. Not questioning any further, he sped towards the upper realms.

Charon did not pose any problems, he knew Percy had free reign to travel the three domains at will. What he did not expect, however, was to give passage to the Hunters of Artemis, all of them. He stuttered and mumbled when talking to the Lieutenant before giving them passage; he did not want to get his ferry hijacked.

Chaos went back to watching Percy. Apparently, Tartarus knew where she was being held, which she thought was weird considering how she saw him being tortured by Gaea._ Gaea you big bully. I won't hold Percy back if he fights you, and I most certainly will _not_ be helping you._

_Sheesh. What is it with monsters and cold places? I wish I'd brought a jacket, at least Little Light has her fur coat._ Sensing her master's discomfort, the she-wolf began to glow warmer. Percy did not notice what was happening until he realized his whole body was warmer and that he could feel proper blood flow throughout his whole body. _Baby girl? How did you do that?_ Percy was now almost certain that Little Light, as she called herself, was not a wolf. She had only been helping him so far, though, so he trusted her. _I'm not sure, my lord. It just seems like something that I can do. I can glow a lot brighter than this, I think._ Percy told her that was not necessary; he did not want to be a beacon for the monsters of _this_ wilderness. As she complied, Percy began to relax. He had truly powerful friends, and he was happy. Now, if only he could figure out a way to distract the Titans so as to rescue Artemis.

Hearing a twig snap three hundred yards behind him, he abruptly stopped and turned around. He squinted and saw something silver scurry out into the trees. Sighing, Percy jumped to the Hunter's camp he now realized was following him. As he appeared in the encampment, the stunned hunters one by one went up to him and started to vociferate at him. He stood quietly for a while before Thalia got to him.

"Percy, I know you wanted to do this alone. However, that does not mean you _have_ to do this alone. We can help. Do you have a plan?"

"Well, to be honest, I do need some sort of distraction. I really don't feel like fighting six different Titans. But I really don't want any of you to get hurt. This is my mess, and I'm going to sort it out."

"Percy stop thinking like that. We're in this as much as you are."

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, well maybe not as much as you are, but you know what I mean." Thalia said, clearly getting frustrated.

"Fine. Help me then. We're almost at destination anyways. Ten miles north from here, I think."

"I'll send a hunter or two to reconnoitre the area. We make a battle plan _after_ they come back, okay?"

Percy agreed and the rest of the Hunters relaxed. After the reconnaissance team came back, Thalia called for Percy. By the look on her face, whatever the huntresses had found, it was not good. _Another pain in my butt._ He went up to her to listen to her bark orders to different groups of hunters.

"Thalia; what do we know so far?"

Apparently, the place Artemis had been taken to was guarded by an enchantment of sorts; the hunters could not get through, even if they managed to sneak past the Titans. There were eight Titans guarding the place. All four sons of Iapetus, All three sons of Krios, and the Titaness Asteria were present at the scene. Percy was sure he would have problems taking on most of the Titans without even Perses and Prometheus being present at the fight, especially since those two together could be extremely dangerous. He decided that the plan Thalia had formulated was as good a chance as they were ever going to get and they sprung into action.

Since the main idea was a diversion, the hit and run tactics were working to their advantage. Teams of five hunters each took a Titan, apart from Perses and Prometheus, and managed to get the Titans on a wild goose chase through the uneven, low-visibility forest terrain. The best part was that finally the Titans were separated.

Percy was not happy with the plan, but he was glad that it was going so far without a hitch. Now came his part. The Titans could not fight Thalia or the two huntresses with her without being challenged, and Percy suspected that was the main reason behind the magic anti-demigod zone that they had sprung in the middle of their location. He supposed that as soon as he broke through the barrier the Titans would turn around to fight him, as that could be interpreted as a challenge to their faces. This was the plan: Thalia and hunters would rush in and free Artemis while Percy battled the Titans, holding them at bay for as long as he could manage.

It would have worked fine, except for one small hitch. Since Chaos herself had blessed Percy, the Titans considered him fair game the second they saw him. Percy swore, this was _not_ good. Thalia and the hunters were about to help him when he waved them away. This was not their task; he would hold them at bay while they figured out what to do.

Help came in an unexpected form. While Percy's intense training and chores kept him alive as he fought the Titans, his wolf ran out of the forest into the clearing and growled at Thalia to follow her. As they got to the barrier, Little Light started to glow. She motioned at the hunters to close their eyes while she broke through the barrier in an immense glow. Prometheus turned around at that point in time.

"Impossible... The gods cannot interfere directly!"

Percy didn't think too much on what Prometheus said and quickly used the moment of distraction to his advantage. Prometheus screamed out in pain as the sword went through his stomach. Percy had to hide a smirk. _Bad memories, eh?_ Then he pulled his sword through the body of the Titan up all the way to his right shoulder. _Damn, missed the heart._ As Prometheus bellowed in rage, Perses tried to make a run for Percy's wolf. _Oh no you don't._ Percy pulled the blade out from Prometheus and ran quickly to the other Titan. Sensing that Perses was about to duck, he turned into liquid form and engulfed the Titan, pulling him into a choking covering.

As Perses passed out, the girls came back with a heavily injured Artemis on the back of Little Light. Percy was about to rush to them when they Titans who had been chasing the Hunters appeared. He was starting to fear the worst for them when he realized that the destruction of the barrier had probably caused them to come back at full speed. He wondered if the main reason for them not flashing was the fact that either they wanted to conserve their energy or if it was because they couldn't, being lesser Titans. He dismissed that idea, minor gods could flash whenever they wanted to. _Well, just my luck. How the heck am I going to fight all six of them?_

He turned towards Prometheus and was aghast at the sight. Prometheus had literally melted into the ground after his body had run dry of Ichor. This was definitely the work of Gaea. Perses was still passed out, so he didn't need to watch him. In fact, just as he was about to decide what he would do with him, Gaea claimed him. _So, it is just six, then. _He knew Epimetheus wasn't a willing participant in the Titan plans, so he decided to help him.

"What would Iapetus say to you if he saw you now? Really, I expected better from you, Epimetheus."

"Leave my weakling brother and face my, puny demigod!" Atlas yelled. Percy frowned, someone else had been forced under the sky, it seemed.

"Ah yes, because a puny demigod faded Prometheus and took down Perses. Yes, Atlas, you speak as intelligently as ever."

Chaos decided it was time to intervene. She did _not_ want Percy to die just yet, she needed to see what he would do later on; he seemed to be growing in power. Then, for the second time that day, Chaos passed out.

The being watching over Chaos sighed. That was a close one. He had made sure that the Hunters had gotten safely back to their camp. Ama—Little Light had carried Artemis to safety, and only Thalia was remaining, ready to pinch her cousin out at a moment's notice, even if it meant being pursued by a demi-dozen titans. Since Percy had specifically asked him to try and _help_ these Titans onto the right path, he decided to bring his son back.

Percy stumbled for a second; a clear look suddenly passed over his eyes. Atlas was unfortunate enough (or was it stupid enough?) to gaze directly into them. All his pleading would not budge Percy. Atlas was facing retribution, and it was not pretty. The pain worsened; he had now started to beg for the Sky again, _anything_ to escape what he was currently feeling.

Percy decided that a more recent memory would hurt Atlas a _lot_ more than his previous actions. As an image of Zoë passed through His eyes, Atlas started howling. Thalia looked at Percy fearfully, just like the other Titans, who were frozen in shock. Percy was driving Atlas mad, raving around and about, the strain of holding the Sky for so many millennia finally breaking his mind. Thalia shivered; this was simply from Percy's _eyes_. She knew Dionysus was nowhere near this powerful with madness. She wondered what would happen if Percy decided to actually fight the Titans. Shuddering at the thought, she turned away from Atlas' broken state. She hated the Titan for he had done to Zoë, but she wasn't sure anymore if _anything_ deserved this kind of torture and punishment.

Percy had finished tearing Atlas' mind into infinitesimally small pieces. He turned to the other Titans, most of whom quickly averted their eyes. Epimetheus fell to his knees instead, staring hard at the ground.

"Forgive me, my lord. It was never my true intention to fight with the Titans against the Olympians. I swear upon the Styx, I truly do."

Percy told him to stand up and look at him in the eyes. Epimetheus trembled but did as he was told. Relief flooded through him as he realized Percy was only smiling softly at him. "Take your brother to the Lethe. Your father awaits your arrival nearby."

"Yes, lord. Your will is my law, lord." Epimetheus decided flattery wouldn't hurt, no one knew how fickle the moods of the higher beings were as good as him.

"Good. And Epimetheus, don't overdo it. I do not require it. Now go; your father will gladly take care of you and your brother. Who knows, one day you might be able to see Pandora again." Percy said with a glint in his eyes.

"P—Pandora, lord? Do you truly mean it?" Epimetheus quivered with tears forming in his eyes. Percy acquiesced and sent him off. He decided that it would be better to bind the other Titans to an Oath less powerful than his word; it wouldn't do if Chaos found out. He made the others swear on the Fates that they would stay away from the fight, and forever be peaceful again. They agreed, even though Asteria had tears in her eyes.

"Maiden, do not cry, it does not suit your face." Percy said as he realized why Asteria was crying. If it wasn't for Zeus, she would not have needed to flee civilization and give refuge to her sister.

"I give you my word, daughter of Coeus, you will find sanctuary from the Olympians wherever you wish to stay. None shall bother you, and your home will always be a safe haven against all evil intent. Anywhere you go, sanctuary will follow you. This, I grant you."

After numerous thanks from the Titans, Percy turned towards Thalia. "Pinecone Face, you don't need to be so scared of me. I did only what needed to be done."

"What needed to be done? Well, that's certainly a simple way to put destroying someone's mind so utterly and brutally. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge what you did may have been necessary, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to squirm."

Percy sighed; this could not be helped. _Oh well. Father, if you would please, do the honours?_

Artemis woke up in her own bed, but not where she expected to be. Or rather, unexpected people were present in her tent.

"Good to see you're awake, sis. Seems like Percy saved your backside again." Apollo said with a grin.

With a groan, Artemis sat up. The Pantheon was present, just like Thalia and Percy, and several of her Hunters propped up right outside the door. After a long winded explanation of what possessed her to face six titans, she heard from her father and Thalia what followed. She turned towards Percy and gave him a grateful nod. This man had saved her life more times than she wanted know, and this was turning into a bad habit of hers.

After concocting a battle plan worthy of Athena, Percy presented his initiative to the Gods. He knew they were wondering how he had managed to convince Epimetheus to get the other Titans and force Atlas to dip in the Lethe, but right now, his main concern was that someone, somewhere, was feeding power to Gaea, and there was the very real possibility that she would awake to her full consciousness, and no one wanted that. Chaos hadn't been much help, he got no answer when he prayed to her to help come up with ideas; but then he figured that was not her style.

As the gods began discussing the merits of his plan, Athena was suddenly struck with a though. _What if Gaea isn't our only enemy? What if the rest of the Protogenoi are working against us?_ She sent a mental note to both Zeus and Percy, and both looked astounded at the thought. _But I thought they had disappeared, apart from Tartarus and Gaea?_ Percy chimed in. Zeus mirrored his question, and Athena herself was puzzled. Either it meant that Gaea had found some way to bring them back, or, _worse_, something else had decided to help her. That was a dreadful thought indeed.

Chaos woke up with a headache that made her want to rip apart the nearest star. _What the void! Is it the anomalies building up that caused this?_ She didn't know, and at the moment, she did not want to know.

The being watching over her pondered. What if Athena was right? What if it was indeed something else?

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**So how was it, you guys? I really want more reviews, I like knowing what you think, and the only way I get that is through PMs or Reviews. So please, oblige me.**

**Oh, and apologies if some of you feel the quality has decreased, I didn't have as much time to go over the manuscript. I'll fix it as soon as I can.**

**Cheers!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's me back with another update. Say hello to chapter 8!**

**I'm introducing a lot of the side plots in this chapter, so I'm sorry if it's a bit boring, but you'll have to deal with it, for now. I promise the next chapter will be much more impressive. At least, it'll have a sizeable amount of action in it.**

**I managed to pull out the creative juices for a long time: Feels like all I've been doing this past week is writing. I love the feeling, though, so I'm happy to be doing this for you guys.**

**Thank you to all of you for your awesome reviews and PMs. If I haven't been able to answer it's due to the fact that I've been... you guessed it, writing.**

**I did claim some one-sided Pertemis, so here you go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.**

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Loki woke up, eyes groggy. The pain still racked his body, and he could not remember the last time he had seen the light of the sun.

He had managed to outlive all the other gods at Ragnarok. He had lived through the ages, at one town or another, through different cities, living a free life. He had been a jester and a fool, a gambler and a trickster, a magician (not a charlatan) and a joker. He mourned the loss of his friends and family; he had accepted them as his own moments before Ragnarok had ended. Except they were gone; only he remained, with a new pantheon of deities ruling in the place of his family.

Not wanting to stand in their way, he chose a different kind of immortality, living it out amongst the mortals, never staying more than half a mortal lifetime in a single place. He had become kind-hearted and had tried to help mankind when he saw it in dire straits. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't be up to his tricks once in a while. But all around, he was a good soul.

Now, however, Gaea was forcing him to comply with her wishes. She was in league with the primordials, she said, and she was conscripting any stray god she found. Apparently, she really had a bone to pick with the Olympians. Loki didn't mind the Olympians; in fact, he was friends with Hermes, whom he considered his grandchild. Since he had decided not to go with Gaea, she had submitted him to torture.

It was nowhere near as bad as the time when he and Thor had been fighting over loot from a felled ice giant, but it was still extremely painful. But Loki held; he did not know how much longer he could hold, but hold he would. He had a feeling that the end of his pain was nearing; something in the back of his mind was calming him, relaxing him, comforting him. Loki was grateful for that; one day soon he would be free.

But until then, Gaea would keep the torture going.

Chaos had no idea about the poor Asgardian's fate; the Protogenoi had gotten together with Gaea and banded with other gods to shield themselves from prying eyes. Eleven such deities, ten of them children of Chaos, together had more than enough power to shield themselves from unwanted visitors.

Gaea, though, in her current form, was limited to a one-track mind. It didn't matter to her how she accomplished her objectives, only that she completed them. She was in the process of hunting down stray gods and goddesses in the States, no matter their mythology. After all, they would all bow down to her; they were on her domain. Of the Protogenoi, only Phusis and Thesis were missing, but the being helping her had assured her that she would bring them back.

Little Light started to tremble in fear; her memories were returning to her. Indeed, she was not a normal wolf, even if being a wolf came to her as naturally as breathing. She, however, was locked in wolf form as a direct consequence of Gaea's actions.

She remembered the happenings as vividly as if it were the day before. Whilst everyone though Gaea was awaking Typhon, mother earth had split into many different locations; a massive hunt was taking place. She had swept up minor gods and goddesses, draining them of their powers, reinforcing her own. When she met a major deity, she would try to convince them to join her or she would torture them; it was not possible to drain the power of a major god.

Little Light had been one of those major deities. However, a peculiar fate befell her. See, she had been running from another god. A mean, pissed off, ugly god. She had gone into her wolf form to get away from him quickly, but he had changed into a big black bear that somehow managed to keep up. As the pair of them passed a verdant plain the other side of Virginia, Gaea had appeared to them. The bear had run headlong into her and caused her to tumble, slowing him to an abrupt halt. Light had seized the opportunity to make a safe getaway, but not before being cursed by Gaea to remain in her wolf-form. Thus she was stuck, waiting for a release.

She had been listening to a voice promising to guide her out of her pain, promising to get her some help. That's when she had stumbled on Percy. The voice in her mind had then left her, and as a last act of kindness temporary shielded her memories so as to ensure her survival. In a measure to conserve her power, however, she had been forced to shift into a cub.

Now, though, she was glad she had met Percy. She absolutely adored him, and she was certain he loved her too. She did not mind being referred to as a child by him; she secretly revelled in it, he gave her a sense of protection and safety like no other.

She decided that Percy needed to know about Gaea's mass recruitment. Light had no doubts that this was what she was doing at the exact moment. However, being a part of the Hunt, Percy would need to stay with Lady Artemis. _Therefore_, she reasoned, _Lady Artemis has to know._ Light asked Percy if the goddess was awake. When he replied, through the mental link the two shared, that Artemis had been awake for the past hour, she rushed into the recovery room. Artemis saw Little Light, and when she introduced herself mentally to Artemis, the latter's eyes widened. She ousted Percy and the others from room, and two sat down to talk.

Percy was feeling conflicted. He needed to keep pursuing Gaea and her minions, but Artemis was in no shape to go. Apollo had told him that she would need a minimum of two whole days before she got back to full power. _Two full days of rest._ Bloody Hades, he'd never catch up with Gaea at this rate. And now, just as he was about to ask Lady Artemis' permission to go on a solo hunt, his little wolf had interrupted him and gotten him kicked from the tent. He wondered what to do. Something told him that he would do better to wait for the goddess than to go off on his own, but the situation was almost calling for desperate measures.

Poseidon wondered what happened to his son. Percy seemed like a different person, very different to the cheerful and jovial younger version of himself that he remembered so well. He felt remorseful; between his duties and the constant bickering with Amphitrite, he had completely neglected to check up on his son. He decided it was high time to remedy that. Poseidon understood that Percy felt frustrated at not being able to go after Gaea; Artemis needed time to recuperate. He thought for a bit, and then called Percy up. He had something in mind that would definitely stop his son worrying, at least for some time.

Susanoo was bored. Gaea had asked him to join, and he had agreed. Anything to be able to get back at Amaterasu. However, at the current point in time, Gaea had gone off wandering to Izanagi knew where, and left him without anything to do. He had queried the Protogenoi; the answer he had gotten in return was so vague that he was sure that it could have been interpreted any way he wanted to. So, at the current point in time, Susanoo had nothing to do. _Oh well, time to see what kind of fish swim in these western seas._

Athena did not have much to do. The preparations and plans had all been quadruple-checked, and she did not notice any glaring flaw. Ares was currently looking at them, bringing his own suggestions and modifying where he saw fit under the watchful eye of her daughter.

Annabeth had flourished on Olympus. She had seen the debacle on the throne room when Percy had been made Guardian of Artemis, and even though she was not happy with her Mother and Hera, she did not hold a grudge against them. After all, now she could be so much more than she could have while Percy was around. She forgave him for trying to kill her; she had the sinking feeling that Hera herself had caused Percy to get so mad that he lost control. The queen of Olympus had saved her life, though, so she didn't say anything to her. Besides, there was no point in crying over spilt tea; what Percy and she had shared was gone; that was all there was to it. Now she held a position of authority right under her mother, and she commanded the respect of many minor gods and goddesses. The proof was before her; Ares was looking at her for confirmation before modifying the defence plans.

Athena looked questioningly at her daughter; after she received an almost perfunctory nod she left the room. It was time to get away from the strategy and take on a hands-on approach, or as she liked to call it, _take a break._

She figured that if the Protogenoi were truly back, then Pontus and Thalassa would not be able to resist trying to kidnap her and induct her into their army. So, she decided she would become bait. She could always flash away at a moment's notice, and the Primordials would not be able to get her.

_If only she knew_, Chaos thought sadly. She knew her children were back, even if she did not know where to find them. She would not be able to help the Olympians in that respect, but she resolved to whisk Athena away if she got herself in trouble. She did not want the Hunt to lose valuable time rescuing _another_ goddess.

Percy was glad to get the Iris-message from Poseidon; it had been quite a while indeed. As the two of them met up and went to the nearest beach on the Atlantic, Poseidon drew a giant fishing pole for him and a medium-sized one for his son. Then they both leaned back against their seats and enjoyed their afternoon.

Susanoo happened to find himself not too far from where the father and son duo was fishing; he, of course, having no idea they were there pulled a fishing rod of his own and relaxed comfortably against one of the softer water-barricade rocks.

Unknown to the trio, Athena arrived at a point somewhere between the three fishermen and began to inspect her surroundings. _Oh great. Now barnacle-beard and his son have decided to fish here. Wait a moment, who's that? He doesn't seem to be from around here._ She crept closer to him, sending a mental note to Poseidon, in case something happened and she would need help. She approached the deity and then saw that he had his undivided attention on the sea. She frowned as she noticed that it was a god, but not one she recognized. If this was a deity from a different mythology, then what was he doing here?

Just as she was about to investigate, she felt the presence of Poseidon enter her mind. _Don't, Athena. I know him; he is my Shinto counterpart; though I am in no way related to him. Let us see what he does before you go and do something that we might regret, okay?_ Athena acquiesced reluctantly, annoyed that for once, Poseidon knew more about something than she did. However, her original intent, to check for the presence of Primordials, was now the priority; therefore she jumped into the sea.

Susanoo suddenly felt two of the Protogenoi come towards him. Just as he was about to stand up, he noticed that they weren't actually coming for him, they were heading to a spot a bit more to his right; apparently something interesting was about to happen.

Athena felt two presences come at her. She mentally yelped at the fishermen, who jumped into the Ocean and steered the currents to come to her help. Pontus and Thalassa had her in some sort of a cage; it seemed to be glowing green and gold. Poseidon cursed loudly; this was the same stuff that Polybotes was made of; Poseidon couldn't break through this. He turned and did the next best thing.

The call of the shell brought all the nearby sea creatures into the fray. As the primordials fought against all the sea-creatures and Poseidon, Percy frantically searched for a way to break open the cage. He turned to Athena, a look in his eyes that she understood as a request for help. She figured that there had to be a focal point in the cage that held together two different kinds of metal.

As she searched, Percy noticed the Shinto god, Susanoo, make an appearance. He was about to call him for help when he saw that Susanoo started fighting off the sea creatures as well. Percy swore; another god that Gaea had gotten to before him. This was exactly the reason why it was imperative for him to leave on the hunt.

The fight was not going terribly well for Poseidon. The Primordials had immense power, not to mention the Shinto god who had actually managed to create a sort of a water-hurricane that deflected all projectiles that was thrown at the three. Poseidon heard Athena yell at him to hit a specific point on the cage with his trident. He motioned at Percy to take over the fight while he went saving the damsel in distress. Unfortunately for him, though, he found an unwelcome surprise facing him.

"Amphitrite? How did you get here?"

Without another word, and without waiting for an explanation, Poseidon jerked his head at her to move away so he could free Athena. However, Amphitrite simply charged at him. Just as she lifted her sword against him, Poseidon felt their marriage link shatter; Amphitrite had joined the enemy and turned against her husband; Hera had divorced the two. Poseidon nodded grimly at Athena before slamming into Amphitrite with such force that he knocked her out cold. He turned his attention to Athena, who stared at him expectantly. A look passed between them, and Poseidon lifted his trident against the cage. Athena came tumbling free a moment later.

Percy was surprised to find himself holding his own against the three. They seemed just as surprised as him, however, and the sea-creatures on his side fought with renewed vigour. All the movements, even if underwater, were blurs; Athena could barely keep track of what was happening. She nodded at Poseidon and then flashed away to get help. Poseidon turned around to go and help his son...

...Who had disappeared, along with the trio of gods. He was starting to freak out when he noticed something shooting towards him from extremely far away at impossible speeds. That something made contact with the bank a moment later, and turned out to be Percy. It seemed he had harnessed the power he had possessed while fighting Typhon to summon an impressive underwater tidal force that blew everything back a few hundred kilometres at extreme speeds. Then he had kicked Susanoo straight in the chest and sent him sprawling into the two primordials, who were still recovering from the force of the water. He had used the last of his power kick to propel himself back towards the beach. Once he finished saying this to Poseidon, the latter flashed both of them to Olympus and thanked Athena for trying to send them help.

Athena blushed a bit before answering that she was in his debt; her arrogance had almost cost Olympus its chief strategist. Zeus pinched the bridge of his nose before yelling a council meeting. As the Olympians gathered their findings, Percy went towards Artemis' palace. She had been transferred to her own room from the recovery room, and he would likely find the rest of the hunt there, along with his baby girl._ Cub, baby cub. She's not human, Perce. What in Hades is wrong with you?_

Artemis was euphoric. She had finally met Amaterasu, the primary Shinto figure, and goddess of the Sun. She was much happier to have this sun's company than her brother's, and she had only told who Little Light truly was to the Hunt. They had spent the past afternoon formulating plans of their own, with two clear objectives in mind. One; to get Amaterasu back to her full fighting form, and two; finding a way to track and hunt the trail of gods and goddesses not yet claimed by Gaea. They could not afford to let Gaea keep gaining in power with each stray deity she found.

Not that they were like stray mongrels, needing a home, either. Simply beings that were at the wrong place at the wrong time. As she heard footsteps approaching her room, she drew her silver plated Ichor-dipped Stygian blade and called out to demand their identity. Amaterasu calmed her, telling her that Percy had returned from his fishing trip, though he seemed agitated. Just as she said that, Percy burst in and fell on his knees. Artemis noticed his cuts and was about to go heal him when Amaterasu jumped on him and licked his wounds clean, which then sealed up and faded like they had never happened in the first place.

As Percy finished explaining the _very_ weird happenings of the eventful afternoon, he noticed Little Light shivering. He quickly went over to her and engulfed her in a warm hug and heated her up.

"Shh, baby girl, it's okay. Tell me, what happened?" He then noticed her head was trembling and knew that this was no ordinary cold. "Shh, calm down. Tell me, who is it? Who scared you?"

Artemis felt a twinge of jealousy as she saw how Percy was cradling the goddess in his powerful arms. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, especially since Percy had gone to great lengths (from what she had heard) to get her back from the Titans. She couldn't help it; she strongly felt that Percy should be comforting _her_, since he was _her_ guardian. She would have said something, but decided to let it pass; she knew Amaterasu was now truly scared of Susanoo. She decided she would help her out.

"Percy, there are a few things you need to know. You see, ..."

At the end of the hour, the jaw drop visible on Percy's expression was so hilarious and endearing that both Artemis and Amaterasu were giggling. Percy then quickly turned to what he thought was his wolf but now knew was an imprisoned goddess and bowed deeply. Amaterasu frowned at him and told him to get up. When he stayed on his knees, she barked and growled at him to get up, and when even that didn't work she proceeded to give his face a complete bath.

"Enough, enough! It's just that I've been less than appropriate with you, Amaterasu; I've hardly been treating you like a goddess. Therefore I feel like I must pay for my actions in some way or another."

Amaterasu frowned at Percy. She most certainly did not think that Percy had been anything less than completely appropriate with her. _Well, referring to me as his daughter was hardly appropriate, but I guess it was completely understandable. Besides, I really liked it!_

After assuring him that he had done nothing wrong and that if he would continue to act towards her in the same manner as before, he would be forgiven, Percy relented.

"You're still my baby girl?" Artemis rolled her eyes at his question. _Of course_. Expect the son of Poseidon to disrespect a goddess like that.

To her surprise, Amaterasu giggled and answered that she was indeed still _his_ baby girl. For some reason, this didn't sit well with Artemis. She was most definitely unhappy that Amaterasu kept getting more attention than her, but then she realized that it had almost always been that way, during all his time in the hunt. The two—wolf and wolf lord—had been inseparable to a fault.

She regretted not spending more time with him. He did not seem to feel something for her; she cursed. Bloody sons of Poseidon. She had only fallen for two beings in her entire immortal life, and she hadn't even really fallen for Orion. Percy was much more interesting, though. She had hoped that maybe he would feel something for someone else—namely, herself—after his incident with Annabeth, but it didn't seem to work that way. She sighed; it never seemed to work her way. She could only bide her time and hope against hope that Percy would come to her.

Amaterasu was glad. Her eyes bulged out when she heard what Percy did to the primordials and her brother, and she felt comforted and safe by his side. Her godly senses told her that Percy was nowhere near a normal demigod, but she did not expect Percy to fend off two primordials long enough to be able to escape them.

As Percy talked with the two goddesses, his true father monitored the situation on Olympus and the one that was developing with Gaea. She was truly turning cruel and sadistic. This was wrong; this was not the mother earth he had cared for when she was young. He decided it would be time for Percy to become self-aware again long enough to instruct Artemis and Amaterasu what their next actions would be. The plans those two had formulated were good, but they needed a bit of modification. Especially since Percy was intent on saving as many entities as he could. With the least collateral damage as he could manage. Yes, it was time.

Chaos mulled over what she had heard. She had tried to follow the primordials back into their hiding place, but three deities of the seas and water in their own element had been able to shield themselves from her. Of course, they had expended a tremendous amount of energy doing so, and would probably not cause anybody any problem for the next few days, but it was still extremely frustrating. She turned to look at Percy and the two goddesses for a second before deciding to work on a different lead.

When the hunt had gathered in Artemis' room and had clamoured Percy to hear his story, his eyes had unfocused slightly for a few moments before turning pitch black. _Ah, feels good to be back._ He turned to the Hunt, who had quietened down in shock. Thalia knew the look on his face and gestured at Amaterasu and Artemis to come and sit down.

"Artemis, Amaterasu, Hunters. Sit down, please; there are a few things that I need to discuss with you before I get on with the tale. Thalia, would you care to do the honours and introduce me to your sisters?"

Just as Thalia started speaking, a huge wolf of epic proportions appeared to Percy in a void-message. "My lord, you have called me? I apologize for the delay. I was busy helping a pack escape...something..." Fenrir frowned as he noticed the present company in the room.

"Ah good, Fenrir, you're here. Yes, I have a task for you. Your father is in trouble."

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**Oh and since I give credit where it's due, I got the inspiration for Amaterasu from Okami purely due to the fact that ArashiRendan23 reminded me that Amaterasu was actually viable as a white wolf in Okami. So thank you again.**

**Thanks all of you for reviewing my work! It feels great to know that people actually like this story. Let me know how you guys feel about the different pairings I've presented throughout the chapters.**

**Until next time, **

**Cheers**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys. Apologies for the delay in updating, but I couldn't make it any earlier due to personal reasons; a family friend passed away and other stuff happened... Anyways, here is chapter 9.**

**After you are done reading, you will probably have a lot of questions: DON'T worry. I will be addressing most of them in the tenth chapter. **

**I decided to allow you Pertemis lovers some last bit of hope before I crush you all. Muhuhahaha... Eh, who am I kidding, evil does not suit me.**

**Oh, and some aspects of this story are going to become dark. Very dark. Evil does suit come of my characters. :)**

**And I know I seem to ramble a lot, but remember Percy rambles a lot anyways, so this is perfectly justified. Ish.**

**Please don't send me any condolences PMs. I'm fine, really.**

**Also, over 960 unique visitors! I'm amazed! Thank you to all of you beautiful people out there!**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot for this storyline, nothing more than that. I think.**

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Percy got a sinking feeling in his heart. He cringed; this existence was starting to get corrupted. This could only happen through entire millennia of imbalanced forces, or utter chaos for a few decades. There was another possibility, but he did not want to scare anyone before getting concrete evidence of the happenings.

If it was indeed something like that, then he would need to journey to the void to see the extent of the instability and destruction for himself. He shuddered at the thought; he had created the void to separate the more dangerous beings that had sprung up in the course of this existence. They were no match for the higher beings, yes, but they were a threat to the multiverses. He had not checked up on the void in several eons; he knew the creatures and beings inside had no means of leaving it. Then again, they should not want to, they lacked nothing in the void. Their home had everything those beings would need; in fact, Percy considered the void as another parallel universe in the midst of this one. The denizens of the void may have been dangerous, yes, but they were not aggressive by nature. _At least, not most of them_. The few that were so had been rehabilitated to function properly in the presence of _civilised_ company.

But that was a long time ago. Percy sighed; he had hoped that the primordials that had passed on would have been happy in there. _Maybe they simply wanted a taste of this world again._ Percy was tired. All these entities and their wants; what was he, a dumb waiter service to all things in the multiverses? _Caretaker of the multiverses my immortal butt._ He smirked; that was one line from Thalia he had really chuckled at. Now, however, he needed to get back at the task at hand. It wasn't that Percy had wanted to force Gaea to pass on, but right now, she was going against her very nature and destroying the planet in her madness. The rage was misplaced. _Maybe she simply lacks a companion. Someone to ease her burden. _Ouranos had failed miserably in that domain; Percy was just as angry as Gaea at him for completely disregarding his children due to _some_ stupid _prophecy._ He did not want to say that the primordial got what he deserved; Percy wasn't sure anyone deserved to be castrated and then cut up by the same sickle into so many incredibly small pieces. Nevertheless; Ouranos was now back, and he was meekly following Gaea.

The question kept eating at him, though. The only beings that could move others to and from the void were the higher beings. He was certain Chaos did not know how to scry the void, and his father was completely out of the question. There were only three other higher beings and two of them were going through a cycle of rebirth, like him, trying to find the answers to their questions. The last one, Percy's companion in his early days, had fallen through the fabric of space and time towards the end. He wasn't sure how that had happened; all he knew was that she thought that he had abandoned her, and he was not going to let it happen once more. He had named his creation in her name; a testament to the fact that all beings deserving could get into the Void if they truly desired it. He had been inconsolable for a long time, and he, along with Order and Balance, had decided to try their hands at rebirth to find their answers. Each was working in a different region of the multiverses, searching for a way to stop the End. He was working for the same reason, but he was also working to bring Void back; he would not forsake her like she had believed.

But if the Protogenoi were here, then either Balance or Order had a reason for bringing them back. After all, it could not be void. He had seen her fall through to End, hadn't he? He needed a word with his father; Infinity always knew what to do. He asked his father whether he knew where they were, but all he got as answer was that they were still in their own dimensions, living their own rebirth cycles. This disturbed Percy; if it wasn't those two, then it had to be End. But that could not be; after all, the time had not yet come for the multiverses to finish. The wheel of time would keep turning for a while longer.

He had done his bit of thinking; now it was time to act. The fragment of Percy's mind that had separated to mull things over while the other parts did their own things had now finished its task; it was time to merge again.

"...and return to me once you have finished guiding your father to Hermes. Understood, Fenrir?"

"Yes, lord. I shall return swiftly." Percy had done his thinking in the blink of an eye; one of the many perks of being one of the more powerful omnipotents. Of course, now that he was back in one piece, his presence alone was enough to obliterate those around him. Putting up the many safeguards necessary to the survival of any creature around him, he turned towards Thalia. He nodded at her quickly, and she began the introductions.

Artemis was in shock. This was most definitely _not_ something she could have ever expected. True, Selene and Helios had left their replacements come clues to some higher beings, but her knowledge of these..._people_... was limited to Chaos. She turned from Thalia to Percy, saw the impassive look on his face and turned back to Thalia again. His eyes had begun to flicker from pure black to completely white. They began flickering so fast that all that she could process was a perfect grey colour. That unnerved her; no one had any idea who Percy was looking at. _No, this isn't Perseus. This isn't the Perseus I know and respect. This is a being of tremendous power who will obliterate me if I make a wrong move._ Just as she thought that, she heard a voice chuckle in her heard. She then looked up and saw a glint in Percy's eyes that she had not been able to notice beforehand. Her gaze became accusatory and she angrily told him mentally to get out of her head.

"...but don't worry, this is still Kelp Head. He has been living a cycle of rebirth to find some answers to his questions."

Thalia finished her story, telling them how she saw how he had helped Tartarus, how he had helped Epimetheus and Asteria, and how he had broken Atlas before returning the titan in child form to his father. Artemis tried to figure some things out; why was the title of overlord of the wolves so important that Percy had taken it?

"Thalia, if I may, I need to answer Artemis." Turning towards the latter, he started explaining.

"You see, Artemis, I did not actually grant myself that title; the current rebirth avatar holds enough power and commands the respect of all wolves around for me to not need to hold any knowledge of my true identity."

"Perseus, there is one thing I would like to know. What is your true identity?" Artemis asked Percy with a level gaze. Amaterasu approved of the question and turned to look him straight into the eyes.

"That is something I would rather not tell you of; if perchance someone were to scry your minds while I was not around, then the consequences may not be good. Let us just say that I am one that wishes you well. Besides," Percy said, flashing a brilliant smile, "I am still Perseus Jackson, son of Sally Jackson. Oh, and son of Poseidon." He added that last bit almost as an afterthought. It was not an intentional slip up; he did not mean to disrespect the father of this avatar, it had simply slipped his mind due to the many googly eyed maidens in the room staring _right_ at him. He let Thalia finish her tale and then let everyone absorb all that had been said. Being omnipresent, he could feel everyone's question forming in their heads and he knew he was about to get bombarded. He rapidly answered each question in mental conversations with everyone. After about a minute or two of extreme grilling he was finally able to relax and settle down on the sofa he had brought, simply for that.

Once he sensed that everyone had relaxed again, he turned towards the two goddesses in the room. Amaterasu jumped on him, forcing him down and licked his face while Artemis kept tapping her foot irritably. He questioned the wolf, _what was that for?_

_To check if you're still the same person I know and love._ He smiled at the thought.

_Yes of course, baby girl._ He added that last part with a mischievous smirk, and then noticed Artemis' eyes burn with jealousy. He was gobsmacked; he didn't really think Artemis saw him in that way, especially since he was so much older than her. He could not resolve to think any other way of the Olympians except as his grandchildren, and he cared for them—well, most of them—deeply.

He sighed and petted Amaterasu as she got off of him and told her that he would talk with her soon. He turned to Artemis right after that and flashed her mind and a fragment of his own in another part of her palace.

"Artemis, listen. I know how you feel, but child, I'm sorry, you know just as well as I do that this simply cannot be."

Artemis felt hurt at his tone and his words. He dared to be patronizing towards _her_? Besides, this was so unfair! All the men she fell in love with were out of her reach. Suddenly, she was extremely glad at her vow. She would not _ever_ fall in love with _any_ man again. _Especially _not any blasted son of Poseidon. She would watch out for those and run away at the first sign of trouble.

Percy watched her as she continued musing. He decided he would need to speak up quickly before the situation degenerated. He also did not want to be the reason behind the death of more men.

"Artemis, the thing is, I truly love someone else, and I have been mourning another person before her. Trust me, you do not want to be entangled with me; I'm nothing but hopelessly enmeshed in misery. Besides, I would most certainly _not_ want to romantically love my own children."

Artemis was about to question him when he answered the question she had asked not so long ago.

"Artemis, I'm only revealing this to you. As Selene told you, there were several higher beings in existence. Actually, I'm surprised that Thalia caught on as quickly as she did. Well, here we go."

"There is one being that is truly omnipotent and ever-present; that is my father, Infinity. Oh, and End doesn't count as a being, it is simply an event, a happening that is to take place at the end of this timeline, signally the end of this set of multiverses. As I was saying, my father was the first real omnipotent. After that, I joined him, along with Order, Balance and Void. Chaos does not know about my father, but she knows about me. Therefore, if you will let me, I would put a ward on you so that Chaos does not learn about my true identity before time."

"Yes of course, Perseus." As she acquiesced, Percy put the ward on her. She felt no different, and listened to him as he began talking again.

"Void was lost to me as I failed to find a way to close a tear that had occurred in space-time. I saw her sailing through it, flashing a hurt look at my face as I left her to her fate, unable to help. I think that Chaos appeared to us an eon or two later, and we decided it would be best to keep her in the dark, and let her play with her own universe. She did just that, and the unpredictable results led us to believe that we could find some way to stop the End before it came to pass." He took a deep breath before continuing, a force of habit.

"Even though we had decided to leave Chaos in the dark, I could not bring myself to abandon her like I had abandoned Void. She reminded me greatly of her, and when she began to create I joined her. My direct contribution to the multiverses is something called the Void. It is a parallel universe that I have created to keep the more dangerous beings separate from the multiverses. And yes, I named it in honour of the one we lost. Chaos, of course, knew nothing about that, she was simply happy that I was with her, and that she would not need to be alone in this reality. That did not stop her from creating and tending to new worlds, however, and I decided afterwards with Order and Balance that we would need to scour the multiverses for an answer to our question. As such, those two are now in rebirth cycles, though I sense their break is near. We have each almost found our answers, I am sure of it."

Artemis decided to interrupt him. "I understand all of this, but who exactly are you? You didn't mention it in your story."

"Oh, right, sorry about that. Well, you see, I am everything. Well, to be more precise, I am Existence. I created the Fates as a way to help my friends keep a presence on this planet, since they could not reveal themselves to Chaos. I also helped some of the Protogenoi when they watched over this planet, but it seems now that Gaea has gone insane with her desire for vengeance. A mother can become _extremely_ over-protective of her children."

Artemis pondered over what he had said so far, when a random question popped into her mind. "So, um, did you and Chaos ever, like, you know, hit it off?"

Percy chuckled. "Of all the things I've said, that's what you picked up?" Without waiting for an answer, he carried on. "We didn't hit it off in the sense you might be thinking of, but we definitely did grow _something_ between us. No, your real question should have been whether Void and I ever hit it off." Percy's smirk deepened at the look on her face.

"Oh," Artemis said in a small voice. Then she plucked up the courage. "So, did you?"

Percy's roaring laughter was not the answer she expected, but it was all the answer that she got. She grumbled under her breath but she understood his plight. She sighed, he would never be hers.

"Artemis, don't get that look on your face. Besides, unless I am sorely mistaken, you are going to be meeting a special someone _very_ soon."

She quirked her eyebrows upwards at his words and shot him a questioning glance.

"But enough of this talk; it is time for us to return to the others. Oh, before I forget; brace yourself."

Artemis was returned to her own body and found herself shocked to notice that the hunters were in the exact same position as before. Amaterasu gave her a questioning look as she saw the puzzlement on her face; this was short-lived; Percy let her know what had transpired.

"Now, onto more serious matter. I am going to ask my father to tamper with my memories again right after I take care of some _small_ business, but in the meanwhile, we have work to do."

The hunters gathered up once more and paid close attention to their brother. After several months of living with them and especially after the events that had recently taken place, the hunters were more than happy to accept him into their exclusive group and welcomed him like a brother. The little ones were still shy, and the older ones still extremely respectful, but all in all the treatment he got was one of a very close friend.

Percy explained very clearly who was to do what and then turned to separate the Hunt into different teams so that they could accomplish their tasks. The main priority for them was to locate and help prospective targets of Gaea and get them before she could. The Olympians were to be informed of them, but their orders were clear: if the Olympians stepped out of line and became aggressive, then the Hunters would pray to either Percy or his father and they would take care of the business.

After getting that out of the way, he turned to his wolf. He released her from the spell, and she felt overjoyed by the fact that her powers were returning to her. However, she chose to remain in her wolf form. Percy raised his eyebrows at her but then understood her choice. She would be less visible to potential enemies in that form. Just to make sure she would be safe, Percy placed his father's mark on her, behind her ears: a black sideways eight, pulsing as if alive. He was happy to find that the moon-bond the two shared was still there; he had grown accustomed to her presence lingering at the outer reaches of the vast expanse that was his consciousness.

She was to direct Fenrir into gathering the largest wolf pack ever; the Snow lords of the Siberian forests, as soon as he returned with Loki. She was then to round up any of the remaining wolf packs in the states and gather them at them at Camp Jupiter; Lupa would need all the help she could get with the upcoming battles. Amaterasu frowned; she didn't like being separated from him too much; but if he commanded, then she would do it, even if it was reluctantly. She just hoped that Tsukuyomi would not make an appearance along the way. She liked Artemis a lot better than Tsukuyomi; that much she was sure of.

As Amaterasu went on her way, Percy turned towards Artemis again, for the tenth time that day. He needed her to come with him; either that or he needed her to release him temporarily from his oath.

As he explained the situation to Artemis, her mouth opened and her jaw dropped in awe. Here was one of the most powerful beings in existence (she chuckled inwardly at the pun) asking her whether she wanted to accompany him to another realm. She had decided to call them realms; the concept of several universes was giving her a migraine. She almost laughed at him before realizing that she hadn't asked him something.

"Percy, how many of these...parallel universes... are there?"

"There are nine _realms_, as you like to call them. The Norse deities had names for each of them; I believe you know of these; except that these _realms_ were much bigger than they originally believed."

Artemis gawked at him. So everything that she knew was truly so connected? _Well, all myths have a basis on truth whereupon they are built._ She looked at Percy sharply.

"Does the void have another name?"

His answer took her by surprise. If she remembered correctly, Niflheim had a ruler. _Not anymore_, was the reply that she got. She gulped and decided she would be safer off on this realm; she didn't need to go to another one to get in trouble; it found her easily enough in this one. She quickly spoke the few words that released him from his duties temporarily and asked him what she should be doing.

"Oh, dear, didn't I tell you? You have to let the Olympians know about the _situation_. Of course, you won't be giving any reference to me during the arguments."

She would have said something, but one look at his eyes convinced her otherwise. He may have still been Percy; he was also someone that could obliterate her by simply being near her. She nodded curtly before flashing on to her throne on Olympus, ready to report her findings. When she heard about the Athena-Poseidon incident with the primordials, she knew that she had no choice but to tell the pantheon about the whole situation. Excepting Percy, of course.

Perseus Jackson relaxed on his armchair for a bit. A fragment of his mind had just finished playing a game of chess against a fragment of his father's mind, and they had come to a stalemate. He had about two hours of free time before he could move to another realm; being in a mortal coil was extremely limiting, even if he had tremendous power. He felt a bit saddened at the fact that he would have to return to simply being Percy after his trip to the void, so he decided he needed to clear some things up. First order of business on his list, of course, was a certain grey-eyed blonde girl.

Annabeth Chase was reviewing the Olympus defence plans with her mother and Ares when they both looked at her and whispered that a council meeting was being called. As they flashed away, she sat back down and started to make random changes to them. It was clear to Percy her heart was not in it.

"You know, moving those armaments on the other side of Olympus would help more than placing them _there_." Annabeth jumped at the voice she knew so well. She steeled her gaze and resolved to turn towards Percy. When she did, however, she dropped her pencil in shock. Percy eyes had become _completely_ blue. _Blue_. She was about to open her mouth when those same eyes turned fully green, and then black, in quick succession, before settling on white. She was now terrified by him. Had he lost control of his powers again? "No, wise girl, I simply came to talk. You see, I need to make a few adjustments to your plans, and I need to get something done that only you can do."

Well, that last part may have been a lie, but it was effective in getting her to listen to him. Her eyes snapped up, and he knew that he had her undivided attention.

When he had finished instructing her, she looked at him with a questioning glance. He shook his head; they were truly not meant to be. She let out an imperceptible sigh and answered; her voice was impossibly soft.

"Yes, Lord. Your Word I accept as my own, and your servant I now become."

"Easy there, Wise girl. I said allegiance, didn't say anything about servitude."

"I know, my Lord, but I cannot in good conscience work behind my mother's back without a good reason. A good, _personal _reason. Becoming your servant seemed the easiest way to do it."

"It's nice to be good with loopholes, isn't it? After all, you'll likely need that skill a lot more, now."

She smiled at him ruefully. He was asking a lot from her, but she would find a way to do it. It wasn't everyday she got the offer to become lore keeper to the omnipotents.

Percy decided to help the Hunters out a bit before leaving for the void. Technically, he had all the time he wanted, but it didn't quite work that way, and he would be in stasis, just like everyone else. It was simply a more advanced form of combat deception; he had needed it more than once during his cycle of rebirth, he remembered it now. Time would almost grind to a halt while he would move at extreme speeds and decimate the enemy in seconds.

He decided he needed to pay a visit to a certain Shinto deity. He called out to Tsukuyomi, who apparently was snoring in the middle of Chinatown in Los Angeles. Jerked awake, the deity appeared before Percy, who was about to reprimand his behaviour when he felt a few primordials rushing to their location as fast as they could. They probably thought that Percy was a good catch; of course, as usual, they knew nothing about him. While Tsukuyomi was busy stammering at Percy, Eos, Ananke, Hemera, and Nyx crept up on them. Percy growled at Tsukuyomi to shut up before he changed his appearance and dimmed the power flowing from his eyes. Once the primordials were close enough, they sprung the metal prison trap on the two of them. With a victorious look in their eyes, the primordials began to tell them of Gaea; how she would reward them when they joined her, etc.

Percy looked at them before answering. "Do you truly believe that?"

Noticing the confused look on their faces, Percy grabbed the Shinto god and calmly walked right _through_ the bars. The primordials narrowed their eyes at him; this was about to get interesting. The four of them then joined their powers together and created a black and gold themed energy barrier around the two. Percy pinched the bridge of his nose before waving a hand. The energy barrier went off, and the primordials looked at him in shock. _ Funny how much I see that reaction nowadays._ He decided he could start his investigation about the void here; four former denizens stood before him, in any case, and he wanted answers.

"Children, why did you leave your haven? Why was it not enough for you?"

The primordials looked at each other, confused, before answering. "Lord, we were kicked out. The lady at the top said that the Olympians were corrupting deities from all mythologies and forcefully extracting those who were at peace. That is when we arrived here, and were met by our sister. Gaea told us of a plan to stall Olympus, and we knew that they must be stopped; this abomination should not happen."

Percy was deeply disturbed; it seemed he would need to visit the void after all. He asked them whether they wished to accompany him back to their resting place, to which they disagreed. They wanted the Olympians to pay for what they had done. Percy cursed internally as he realized he had forgotten to explain the _real_ situation to them.

When they heard his explanation, everyone apart from Ananke asked to be returned to the void; they would need to see for themselves why the lady at the top lied to them. Percy wasn't concerned with _who_ this lady was as much as _how_ she did what she was doing. For a moment a fleeting thought—maybe Void had returned, somehow—passed his mind, but he knew that was pure fantasy. Ananke, however, was not convinced.

"Who are you, any why would we listen to you? For all we know, you are the minor god of trickery and deception, disguising his escape in some formidable manner. Face me in battle, coward! Besides, if you truly intend to help me, finish me. That way, I will be able to return to the void."

Percy was going to deny his request when his eyes flitted to a midnight black colour. Ananke saw this and shivered involuntarily. "So, mother has blessed you, has she? Good; this fight shall be more even now. And after you die, take a message to mother: we're coming for her _next_."

At those words Percy snapped. Ananke was _not_ going to hurt his Chaos. Conjuring the prison again, he placed Tsukuyomi inside and looked at the other Protogenoi. He shared a look with them, and understanding passed through their eyes. He was trusting them, and they would not break his trust.

With that, the fight began. Percy decided to humour Ananke; he would only progressively reveal his powers, and just as a show of strength, he would toy with her.

The latter charged with his weapons raised. As she swung her swords, Percy nimbly dodged them and backhanded her. Ananke staggered back from the force of the blow, and enraged. Percy took turns dodging and punching, clearly having fun while the primordial staggered back, painful welts visible on her face. Bellowing with fury, she decided to do a cut that would not fail to hit Percy, even if he tried to dodge. Ananke understood that since Chaos' blessing, Percy probably had hardened muscles and Chaos metal for bones, but she wasn't worried. Her own symbol of power was able to cut through the Chaos metal quite well. Percy, however, surprised him. As she brought the swords together in a slashing motion, Percy simply stopped them by _grabbing_ the sharp edges with his fingers and _twisting_ them into useless instruments. She gaped at the weapons; nothing should have been able to do that.

That's when Percy got serious. Well, more serious than before; there was no fun in simply snapping his fingers and getting everything done. He slowed down time and wrenched the swords from her grip before slamming them together and reducing them into overly glorified daggers. He sped up time again to let the primordial process what he had done, and then slowed it down again. He walked up next to the deity and began to leave small cuts all over her arms. When that was done, he sped up time again, only to hear her grunt in pain. _Oh, dear friend, you know _nothing_ of pain._ He slowed down time long enough to slash right behind the primordial's knees before he walked in front of her. The look on her face changed from pained to furious, she was flailing her throwing knives in front of her angrily. Percy chuckled darkly before slowing down time again and pierced her body with her own _new_ pair of daggers. He was enjoying himself in a way he hadn't in over a thousand years, if not more. Suddenly, he noticed the look on the faces of the other primordials; it was clear, they were terrified of him. He shook himself out of his bloodlust and dropped Ananke's swords in front of her. As he did so, he stared straight into her eyes.

Healing her might not have been the best idea, but the Ichor loss was ghastly to see. "Do you truly wish to pass on in this way, Ananke?" She quivered under his gaze before steeling her resolve. She answered defiantly that this was the only honourable way, and Percy wanted to slap her silly right there and then. He controlled himself, just like Thalia had before speaking his Word. As she faded, she flashed him a grateful look. Percy decided he would never understand the female phenomena.

He took his leave from the others, promising to come back and get them before the hour was up. He flashed to Olympus and gave Tsukuyomi strict orders. As the god readily accepted to do them, on the name of Izanagi, Percy flashed out on his way to meet the team of hunters whose task it was to track down Tsukuyomi to inform them that he had helped them up. When he arrived, however, he saw something that chilled his spine.

The Hunters were frantically trying to save the life of a demigod who had been mutilated beyond recognition, his limbs twisted at impossible angles. It was no use; Percy could tell that the demigod had died minutes before. When the huntresses saw him, they rushed to him and hugged him for comfort. He had finally gotten close enough to see the demigods' outward appearance properly; he could see that...

...He could see that the demigod was Nico di Angelo.

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**Dark, yeah, I know. So what, sue me. Or don't, I don't want a lawsuit on my butt.**

**However, I do hope you guys liked the story so far; I definitely liked this chapter, even if it was slow at the start.**

**I apologize again for not having been able to upload a chapter this morning and hence why I made this chapter a bit longer. Don't get used to it, though. It takes a few hours to churn out five thousand words for a piece of writing, and it's a few hours I could be using differently. ;)**

**Thank you all for your reviews and PMs again, I swear, it makes writing this so much more rewarding.**

**À bientôt, mes amis.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's me signing on with another chapter. Here's a warning: I tend not to work on chapters on weekends, so don't expect updates. When I say don't expect them, it doesn't mean they won't happen, it simply means that it will be extremely difficult for me to update.**

**To appease all of you people who were saddened by Nico's brutal death, I've put in a compensation chapter in here. Enjoy. I did say the story was going to get very dark at some points. Anyways; chapter 10! Also, please note that the pairing WILL REMAIN Perchaos NO MATTER WHAT happens in the story. So, don't freak, I beg of you.**

**Thank you all for your awesome reviews and PMs! Sorry if I can't get back to each and every one of you individually, it's just that I'm extremely occupied. Thanks you to all of you beautiful people for favouriting and following this story/me.**

**Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, and some concepts in the plot. Not PJO or HoO.**

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Hades was mad. Here was the council telling him that he was not allowed to break the laws of death; he was the bloody _god_ of the underworld! He _ruled_ the damn place; why should he be limited by the same laws as everyone else? A small part of him told him that he was in grief and thus being extremely irrational; even the gods had to respect the laws of death. Blinded by his own sorrow he disregarded that side of him completely; however, he could not wallow like this. The murderer of his son _would_ pay; she would pay with every single fibre of her body. Hades had no doubt that Gaea was behind the _incident_.

_Just you wait, Gaea. I'll rip your soul out and have Cerberus feed on it for eternity. You will not escape us _this_ time around._ He smiled malevolently; this was one of the basic punishments he had reserved for her. Hades frowned; he would need help in bringing her down, though. He decided; he would request the other Olympians the right to decide her punishment(s).

Zeus was in shock. His nephew had been murdered extremely brutally; he was afraid for Thalia. Of course, she was _much_ safer than Nico, surrounded by the Hunt; she wasn't wandering off on her own in between the Underworld and the upper world. Still, it galled him to think that they, the gods, had been able to do nothing for the son of Hades. He had been extremely saddened to see Hades heartbroken when the Olympians had been forced to deny the request for evading the laws of death.

He would definitely have to do something soon; it was great Hades was on their side; Gaea was going to have a formidable enemy in Hades. On the other hand, unrestrained for too long, Hades would definitely turn _extremely_ sour and might cause them problems. Zeus fervently wished to the fates that somehow, something would happen to right this situation.

Persephone was saddened at the loss of the brave demigod's life. She did not want to say that she was partly the reason he had died, Hades would never forgive her. She had simply been going on a promenade when she had met Nico. The latter seemed to have a terrified look on his face, but it wasn't exactly right; he didn't seem to be terrified _of_ something. In fact, now that she looked through her memories closely, he had been terrified for her. Rightly so; Gaea had at that moment appeared to them; she seemed to have been pursuing Nico in some way. Nico had bought Persephone enough time to escape the primordial, but had died as a consequence. She would forever respect his sacrifice. She regretted the times she had been despicable towards him; she was just galled that Hades had children with other women and not with his own wife. She had wanted to tell Nico that she considered him as her own, and she resolved to go see him in the fields of Elysium and talk with him. His father was not allowed to do that too much, but Persephone was not related in any way to him; she could do as she pleased. She decided to go and let Hades know, either ways; he was her husband, he deserved to know she would be visiting him. She came upon a very quiet Hades in his chamber.

"Ah Persephone. Where are your smiles?"

She frowned. He was going to be difficult. "What do you mean, Hades?"

"You know very well what I mean. You hated the boy; he's dead now. Shouldn't you be happy?"

Persephone burned with anger at his comment but controlled herself; his grief was making him _very_ irrational. "He had become just as much my son as yours. I wasn't the one that was unbelievably _bad_ towards him when he first came to us. _I_ did not manipulate him."

Hades looked liked he would have sent her to Tartarus, a murderous look flashing through his eyes. Then his face dropped. "Don't remind; I feel bad enough without more guilt being dumped on me."

Persephone decided it would be easier to comfort and calm him if he was a little more weighed down. "You only considered him a replacement for Bianca, didn't you? Well that's what you get for ignoring him for so long."

Hades lifted his face at her, and the look on his eyes melted her heart. "Hades, dear; listen. I'm not limited by the laws in the same way you are. I'm going to go visit Nico and thank him for _everything_. Would you like me to tell him something?"

Persephone memorized his answer and took her leave from Olympus. She was careful not to go anywhere near any kind of greenery; that habit had almost gotten her killed, and _had_ gotten Nico killed. She sighed and walked towards Charon.

Percy was incensed. He wanted to pursue Gaea, but this was not the right time. He had assigned everyone their respective duties; it was time he went and did his own. He had hoped that he could have made the journey to the void at a different time; his help was much needed on Earth. Then again, if he had his answers, maybe he would not need to take the fight to Earth. _Well, that's already the case. The best I can do is to take the fight _away_ from earth._ Percy had finished deliberating; he called on the primordials he had promised to carpool home and appeared at their location. They all thanked him and together stepped through the portal.

The other side looked much better than he remembered. _It seems to have flourished just fine in my absence; I wonder who would want to disrupt this peace._ He turned questioningly at the other primordials as they literally sauntered off to meet with their friends once more. Percy sighed, annoyed. This was going to be a long mission.

On Midgard, Fenrir had managed to locate where his father was being held. He joined up with the nearest hunting pack, citing the overlord of the wolves as his master and a divine command he had to follow. Not that the pack needed that sort of encouragement in the first place; Fenrir was one of the most powerful wolves in existence. However, it did not hurt to have more support.

He informed the wolves that all he really needed was a two-step diversion. A first wave of wolves would direct attention to one entrance of the cave, and then a smaller group of wolves would lead to the second door, thus making the enemy believe that this was the main idea behind the diversion. Then Fenrir would crawl in through the opening of the first cave, using a path hidden behind the paraphernalia and equipment the enemy was stacking. The rest was simple enough; butt in, bite through some chains, leave. The wolves gathered around him growled their laughter, happy with the plan. This hunting pack seemed fine with acting as live bait; Fenrir would still need to be quick. Guerrilla warfare tactics came naturally to the wolves; that was how they hunted, unseen, killing from the shadows.

As they put their plan into action, Fenrir wondered what he would do if some of the gods that were imprisoned were doubles, spies posted to counter the very situation he was working himself into. He growled; he would burn that bridge when he got to it.

Thankfully, the Protogenoi seemed to have been otherwise occupied; none came into view as he destroyed the dungeon bars. He gasped when he looked inside.

It was an ungainly sight; Ichor had splattered and dried around the room. He recognized a few minor gods and goddesses from different mythologies and looked deep into their souls. The ones where he found no desire to join Gaea he stopped to bite through their chains. This continued for a short while; at last he came upon his father. He was furious to see Loki had been turned blind. At least, he was not able to use his eyes.

"Father..."

The council of the gods heard from Artemis that Percy had concocted a plan to protect as many deities as they could. Athena was curious; she did not think Percy had the _capacity_ to come up with it. She reasoned that her blessing must have brought out this side of him. The plan was indeed incredible; if they could pull it off, this confrontation would end with minimal casualties and with an overwhelming number of alliances and _camaraderie_ with other mythologies. Future threats could be avoided even before they could begin. As she was about to ask when they could begin, Artemis told them that the plan had already been put into action; it seemed wiser than waiting for the council to have to meet about it and ponder on it.

The council was outraged; Artemis should know better, even if this was a good decision, it wasn't hers to make.

"You're right, of course. I did not make the decision, you see, Percy did." The pantheon looked at her, shocked.

"And you complied to _his_ _orders_?"

"Well, he is my protector, therefore I am bound to listen to him when he is protecting my life."

Athena could not resist but smile at her; she had gotten the perfect explanation in place to avoid anyone getting any blame. Then she suddenly remembered something.

"What about Percy? Should he not be here with you, explaining the situation to us?"

"Percy... left on his own mission." Poseidon immediately tensed up at her comment. He flashed an angry look. "You let him? After what happened to Nico?" Hades winced at his fallen son's name. "Sorry, brother. But you know what I mean, Artemis! How could you let him go off on his own?"

"Poseidon, you should really give your son more credit. You saw what he did to Typhon. On top of that, he had been blessed by Chaos. Do you truly believe him to be ... inadequate... for his task? Besides; this task was assigned to him."

"Assigned? By whose authority?"

Artemis spoke one simple word, and Poseidon sat back down. Who was he to go against the higher being?

Artemis decided that Olympians needed to know that hope was not lost; they might make rash decisions otherwise.

"There is one thing you should know. We are not as alone as we had thought."

The Pantheon looked at her before answering that they knew very well that they weren't alone. After all, wasn't the plan put in place to help save deities from many mythologies?

"That was not the way I meant it in. You should be looking at a different dimension of this; only then would you understand." Having finished, Artemis was about to get up when Annabeth, who sat at the table below them, allowed in their presence due to the immense help she had been these past few months and how important she was to Olympus, spoke up.

"You know, what Artemis is true." She threw the latter a knowing look before continuing.

"Percy passed by, before leaving on his _mission_. He made some adjustments to the Olympus defence plans, especially since we are going to have to accommodate a lot of new deities. It would be helpful if Apollo could delegate the chariot duty to someone else; his presence would be greatly appreciated at the gates of Olympus. After all, we wouldn't want spies coming into our home."

Each Olympian paid close attention to her as she turned to each of them, suggesting different plans of action for each of them. Suggestions, of course, for she could not pretend to impose anything on them, but _very_ strong suggestions nevertheless. She left Zeus and Hera alone; the rulers of Olympus would be watching the situation unfold. The Olympians didn't bother to question the strangeness of the events; Percy was involved, strange things were happening; end of story.

Thalia Grace was in trouble. Somehow, she had managed to get herself separated from her team, and she was now on a weird meadow that seemed to glow. This was _definitely_ not her day. Her team didn't know about Nico, or else she would have been slightly more spooked at the current point in time. However, having no knowledge of what had happened to one of her best friends, she merely pulled out her bow and nocked an arrow, believing herself ready to face any monster that Gaea sent to her. She could not have been more mistaken, but thankfully, she had Infinity watching over her. He would intervene at the last moment, pulling her out if she did not manage to save the prisoners in time. True, her team had gotten separated; it was also true that they were about to arrive to the prisoners from one side while she would be on the other. A perfect hammer and anvil manoeuvre, except that manoeuvre was meant to be done with a lot more people on both sides. One side would hold; steadfast and mighty, taking the brunt of the hits while the other side would sweep in and deal heavy damage to the enemy, effectively slamming them against the shields of the other side. Hence the name hammer and anvil. What Thalia was doing, however unwittingly, was much of the similar tactic. As soon as she saw the cage, but no Gaea, she knew that they were either dealing with a primordial that gone on a lunch break or they were dealing with a _very_ sneaky person. Not wanting to lose her advantage of cover in the trees near the meadow, she started to climb the trees. As soon as she had gained some altitude, she noticed the other huntresses from her team and made herself visible only to them. They noticed and pointed towards the lone figure in the cage. She frowned, and then recognition washed over her face. What she didn't understand was why Krios was imprisoned. More importantly, why had he been left alone? This was obviously a trap. She knew that if they got close to him the trap would get sprung and they would not be able to escape. She sighed and gave a clear _no_ to the huntresses. They frowned for a second before listening to her; they would not help this one. As they met up, Thalia explained how obvious a trap this was.

"They had probably expected us to go in and save him no matter the situation because of our sense of _duty_ towards the gods." She laughed a bit, and the other huntresses smiled. Their loyalty was to their brother, just like his loyalty was to them and how he watched over them all; the huntresses bowed down and respected him. They knew even Artemis would follow their brother anywhere; that much was clear from the way she did not question his instructions. Of course, only an idiot or a brave individual would question the decisions of a higher being.

The Hunters decided they had done enough for now; it was time to return to Olympus. Without further ado the team ran up to join with another team not too far from them and then continued on their way from there.

Percy had managed to escape the _most_ _pleasurable_ torture of having to meet up with long-lost (and forgotten) _friends_; he did not have time for that. When he got near the house of Hel, he stopped. She had ruled this place for a long while before she wanted a break from all of it and had happily stepped down at the first opportunity. The opportunity had come under the motion of a council, with a representative from each species participating in the discussions. No more than one representative per species, and there was no first-amongst equals business; everything was voted on, and everything went by quickly. Yay's or Nay's didn't take too long to happen. Percy smiled; Hel would definitely tell him what he wanted to know.

He passed Thor and Odin on the way; they were saddened to see how much Loki had been suffering and begged Percy to let Loki come to them. He was moved with pity at their grief; but Loki had a mission that he needed to see through the very end, and it couldn't happen from Niflheim. His heart grave, he denied their request, but it hurt him as much as it hurt them. He asked them for Hel and they pointed to the first room on the upper floor.

"My lord! You have returned! It is so good to see you after so long!"

Percy smiled. "Hello, Hel. I trust you have been keeping well?"

"Yes lord. I saw what happened to my father over the years, though, and I cannot help but say that I wish he were here instead of suffering down on Midgard."

Just as Percy was about to respond, she continued. "However, I know that he is yet needed there and cannot come to us just now. Very well. Now tell me, what is it you require of me, my lord?"

"Tell me, what do you know about the Lady at the top?"

Persephone had finished talking (mostly apologizing) to Nico; she was not even shocked to see tears running freely from her eyes. Nico saw this and comforted her in the best she thought he could ever have done.

"Do not mourn me, mother. I am very happy where I am, and I would do what I did again to save you from harm." Persephone's heart melted at his words and she enveloped him in a tender hug.

"Nico, if you were still alive on this day, I would have made you my true son. What I offer you in exchange is but a paltry gift; I hope you would still accept it, though." Saying that, she gave him one of her own bracelets of power.

"Mother, I couldn't! This is one of your bracelets of power! If this were to fall into the wrong hands, then you would be in trouble!" Nico choked on his words, he couldn't continue; his adoptive mother truly loved him. He felt tears swimming in his own eyes.

"I know, son, and that is why I am happy to trust you with it. You have saved me in life, you will keep my essence in death."

With that, she let him go and join his friends, all of whom had achieved their well-deserved rest. "Maria, I'm just happy to be able to call him my son, even though he is yours. I hope you do not see any problems with that."

"No, of course, my Lady. I simply hoped he would have had a safer mortal life than the other demigods." She curtsied to the goddess and went away, tending to her own business. Persephone stood in deep thought for a minute before flashing to her bedchamber on Olympus.

"...and that, my lord, is all I know about the Lady at the top." Hel took a deep breath before continuing. "She has not interfered directly with anything, has she, my lord?"

Percy looked at her with an apologetic look. "I wish I were able to say so, child. However, that is not the case. She has bypassed one of the fundamental laws I had set up when I created this place."

Hel frowned, her brain going into overdrive. Only a higher being or a direct descendant of either Void or her lord could do that. "My lord, you have not borne any children by any woman, have you?"

Percy almost laughed at the question. "Not that I know of, Hel. Why do you ask?"

"No real reason... Call it female intuition if you will."

Percy snorted lightly at her, even though he knew that it was most likely something that was extremely concrete for Hel to even mention it in passing. "Well, once you're sure of your... hunch... be sure to let me know, yes?

"Of course, my lord."

Percy set off in the direction that Hel had pointed. The Lady at the top, it turned out, was called that for a very specific reason. She had appeared only recently and had built herself an abode on top of a nearby mountain peak, high in the clouds. He appeared at the location Hel had described and then staggered back, stunned by what he saw. Was this another higher being? No, she did not have enough power. But her power was indeed tremendous. It easily surpassed that of a primordial, but was too weak to be that of a higher being, even by the standards of Chaos.

"What is your name, maiden? For I sense you are indeed a maiden."

The look on her face turned venomous. "Don't pretend you don't know me, _father_." She spat. He looked at her disbelievingly. "I swear upon _all_ the higher beings that I do not know of you, and neither do I know of any children of mine."

These words seemed to stun her. She obviously knew about the power of this oath; it was not something even the higher beings would take lightly. But then she turned her gaze steel-hard and looked at him accusingly.

"My name is Cosmos, father. Now do you remember me? You left me and my mother out of the multiverses when you could have helped us!"

Percy was getting frustrated; this girl obviously didn't trust anything but the Unbreakable Oath. He looked at her again and spoke softly, masking his annoyance. "I swear by the End of all things that I do not know you. What is your mother called?"

The girl looked at him disbelievingly at first, but then her eyes betrayed tears. "But—but she promised! She told me you knew of us! She said you cared for us in your own way but that I should never go looking for you! She—she ..." She broke down in tears.

Percy immediately enclosed her in a hug, and then it suddenly clicked in his minds. "Wai—wait! Is your mother Void? How is this possible? She and I never did anything other than..." his voice trailed off, bitter memories of his failure rushing at him. He still kept Cosmos in his grasp. She had stopped sobbing and had started to calm down.

"Tell me, Cosmos, how did you and your mother survive? I did everything but I could not keep the temporal rift open! I even offered my soul to open up another temporal rift! And how did you manage to come through?" By the end of his series of questions he had tears running down his face. Cosmos saw this and her recently-warmed cold heart melted; she could not stay angry at her father, however much she wanted to. It was truly not his fault; he had known _nothing_ about her. If there was someone to be mad at, it was her mother. She had lead her to believe that her father cared for her; a foolish hope. Unknown to her, however, Percy heard all of his daughter's thoughts.

"Cosmos, baby, how could I never care for you? I can feel it now; our bond is forming at an incredible rate; you truly are my daughter. You know what? I promise you something. You will be my one and only child."

"It's alright, father, you do not need to do that for me. I'm just mad at mother. And yes, she is fine. She created a place for herself, and she is happy there." _Too darn happy,_ she muttered under her breath.

"As for your last question, father; I am your daughter after all, and since you unknowingly created a portal for me when you named this world void in honour of my mother, well, I decided to use it."

She thought through what she would say, and then settled on apologizing for helping Gaea. "Do not apologize to me, my dear daughter. We all make mistakes; it would be better for us if those mistakes happened early on in our lives so that you may have a chance to use the knowledge you learn from making them."

Cosmos was overjoyed by her father's demeanour; he was nothing of the uptight and exasperating pain in the backside that her mother had led her to believe. Her lips quivered at the thought of being forced to leave him; she had just so recently found her father. What would her mother say if she didn't stay with her? The answer came to her quickly enough. _She would not even notice_.

Percy heard her conflicted feelings and decided he would surprise her. "Of course, now that I've found you, there is no way in all the multiverses that I'm going to let you go."

Cosmos' eyes lit up at his words. Percy was mesmerized by them. She had inherited both his and her mother's midnight black eyes and hair. She was one of the most beautiful beings he had seen in the many eons he had lived, and he had seen _a lot_ of people. He was glad, for some reason, he always felt empty without having someone to call _his little girl._ This was probably why he had taken so quickly to Amaterasu; his uncreated bond with his daughter had driven him to moon-bond with her.

"Now, Cosmos, there is a small matter that needs taking care of."

"Gaea, daddy?" Percy heart lifted at hearing her words. He chuckled softly. "No, dear child. I have to get you to meet your grandpa. He would never forgive me for not presenting you to him."

Cosmos shivered. She was finally going to meet with Infinity. She knew about the higher beings; Infinity, Existence, Void, Order, Balance, and Chaos, the last-minute addition. She smiled at her father and walked through the portal that he created and fell into step behind him.

The meeting had gone much better than she had hoped; her grandpa had absolutely adored her. He had turned a questioning eye towards Percy (as she learned he was called in his current form) at the end of her retelling, as if asking about another being. The two had gotten entranced in some kind of mind fight which she could unfortunately _not_ read, but the outcome got Infinity chuckling and Existence red as a tomato. Deciding not to wonder too much about what she had heard, she asked Percy where the other beings where. He turned at her and smiled. They were apparently also doing the same thing as her father, so they could not be here for some time.

Existence turned towards his father and then said something the other had been hoping to hear for the past few millennia.

"It is time, father. I have found the answer. We must go fetch the others."

Infinity was overjoyed, but he decided to rationalize the thought processes. "Very well, but first, we have to deal with Gaea and the runaways. It seems she got the rest of the Titans to join her. Tartarus was overpowered. Don't worry, I kept him safe."

It burned Percy that while he was in his mortal coil he could not face Gaea. That was apparently one of the rules set forth by Chaos at the moment of creation. No deity, be they primordial, titan, or other, could be allowed to face another while in the form of another being. They were required to be fully unleashed. Percy reasoned that something would need to happen to set things straight. Either that, or Cosmos would fight in his name. He had no doubt that she would do it, but she wasn't a full higher being; she might get hurt fighting so many primordials and titans at the same time. They kept Chaos at bay by combining only ten of their powers, and she was a higher being. Granted, she was the least powerful of them, but that still didn't make him happy. Cosmos was not as powerful as Chaos; at least, not yet.

He told the two of his plans; it was time to reveal himself to the Olympians. Cosmos would stay by his side. Infinity was glad. No more mind-wiping business for him to take care of. He nodded at Percy's unuttered question; it was fine for him to spend some time off the multiverses with his daughter. Percy smiled and looked at his daughter; the latter had no clue what was going on, but all of a sudden she could feel everything stopping. When she said everything, though, she truly meant _everything_. She turned at her father, awed by his power. He saw her look and chuckled.

"Cosmos, baby girl, don't look so surprised; I am Existence. I decide who exists, _what_ exists, as well as _when_ it exists."

She smirked. "This is so cool! So after a good day's work, you can just stop time in all the multiverses and sleep?"

"It doesn't quite work like that. Check your energy level." She did as he asked, and she frowned; it was frozen stable. She couldn't fall asleep even if she wanted to, she wasn't thirsty, but she wouldn't be able to drink even if she wanted to. She suddenly understood why this was not so desirable.

"Yes, Cosmos. We are in stasis. We are stable, just like everyone else. It's one of the safeguards to prevent a rip in space-time. You know only too well where _that_ would lead." She shivered at the thought. No, it was definitely not the time for the End.

They stayed there for Existence knew how long, and at the end both were very happy to have each other. Percy sighed. It was time to return, and to announce his presence to the Olympians. He saw that Fenrir had saved Loki and that he was now in Siberia, and he understood that not much time had passed since he had come to the void.

He took one step to return to the void, making sure he had his daughter in a tight hug, and took one more to emerge in the throne room of Olympus.

As soon as he did all the Olympians, along with the gods and goddesses they had rescued and the huntresses arrived. The room was becoming a tight fit, so Percy obliged and extended the room into a much larger auditorium. As the deities processed what happened, Artemis and the Hunt recognized him and rushed forwards, meaning to tackle him. When Cosmos saw this, she misinterpreted it as an attack and stood defiantly, her back to her father, as if to protect him from all these people.

Percy laughed, a rich, mellow voice ringing against a background of pure silence, and the tension eased. As he motioned at Cosmos to sit beside him on the sofa he had conjured for the purpose, Zeus commanded all the deities in the room to calm down and to follow Percy's example. When everyone had calmed down, Zeus began speaking.

"Perseus Jackson, what is the meaning of this?"

Cosmos couldn't bear the insolent tone of this being, and she snapped at him. "Watch your tongue, god, this is my father you are speaking to. You would do well to address him with respect."

Percy chuckled loudly. "Easy, baby girl. I didn't show much respect to them as a demigod. You can't expect them not to return the favour." He heard Artemis and Amaterasu both choke at the way he addressed the girl standing in front of them. He turned to the Hunters.

"Sisters, it is still me, and I most certainly do not require any form of respect from you if you do not wish to show me any." To his complete surprise and his daughter's utter delight, the whole Hunt kneeled before him. "Brother, we respect and love you. We are all together in the Hunt, and by being in the Hunt we are all indebted to you. This debt we may only repay through our own methods." Percy didn't quite like the sound of that, but he smiled at them anyways.

He turned to the Pantheon. "Zeus, you asked a rather complex question. I will answer it indirectly, over the next few hours. However, since we do not have that much time on our hands, I am placing all of us in stasis." With that, Percy clapped his hands, and the deities present dropped their jaws.

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**So, did you guys like it? I figured I rushed some parts and made others a bit too slow, but I had not intended to break up this chapter here. However, I wanted to keep my track record of at least one update a day going, so I had to do this.**

**Let me know what you think of this, thanks!**

**Cheers.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the second part of chapter 10. I promised you I would put it up before taking a break for the weekend, so here you go.**

**And apologies if it isn't as long as you wanted it to be, but this chapter prepares you for the second and better half of the story. Think of this as an interlude while I go rest **_**the little grey cells**_**.**

**Oh, and if you don't like what I've done with this chapter, sorry in advance. I also apologize for not being able to answer all of your reviews; please know that I'm extremely happy to read them and even happier knowing that you like this story. This is for all of you (If it were up to me, I would NOT have updated today).**

**I agree this chapter was sort of under par for my story, and I promise I'll rewrite this one soon. Otherwise, see you all on Monday!**

**Disclaimer: Same as before. Sue me, I'm lazy.**

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"Kronos! He is Kronos! That treacherous spawn of Poseidon has turned on us all!" Of course, Hera had to be the one to say that. Percy turned to her and sneered at her.

"I would not speak about _treachery_ if I were you, O _queen_ of Olympus." Disgust was pouring out of his words. Zeus looked outraged. As much as he respected Percy, no one talked liked that to his wife.

"Don't, Zeus. You have not heard the full story yet." Zeus wondered how he knew what he was about to say, but figured it was easy enough to guess from his own expression.

"You see, after that Goddess over there," Percy said, waving his hand towards Athena, "Could not bear to see me with her daughter, she went to Hera for some help. That much, however, I'm sure you all know." The pantheon was stunned; how had Percy known? They listened to his tale attentively, though; questions would have to wait for later.

"At the confession, Hera brazenly lied to all of you; in reality, she caused my mortal avatar to burn with hatred and madness. Her subsequent actions; saving Annabeth, hiding her until the meeting; was all an act to better herself in everyone's eyes." At these words, Hera became furious.

"How dare you insult me so, _mortal_! I'll send you to the depths of Tartarus myself for your impudence." Hera didn't get the reaction she expected, though. Instead, the girl he called his daughter started to laugh openly, just like the Hunters. She thought she even remarked Artemis with a smirk on her face, but what Percy said infuriated her.

"Oh, by all means, I invite you to try. Besides, I need to go talk to him anyways. He needs to be thanked for his services."

Hera stuttered and the rest of the gods and deities present in the auditorium looked at him in shock.

"So you admit to allying yourself with the enemy?"

Cosmos had had enough. She didn't understand why her father was so patient with these people, but she most definitely was not; and getting tired of hearing the same thing from a lot of people was _not_ fun. She spoke up before her father could say anything.

"Just shut up and listen to father, you idiot. At least what he says is _useful_ to us."

Everyone in her presence shut up, even the Hunters. As right as Cosmos may have been, _no one_ called her an idiot in the presence of a myriad of other beings, and _certainly _no one called her an idiot in the presence of Zeus.

Of course, unknown to them all, Percy had been having a mental conversation with Zeus all the while. He sent a mental apology to the latter before deciding that the silence needed to be broken.

"You're going to let her talk to me that way, Zeus?" Hera was mad. The people around her edged away slowly.

Zeus put on a defeated look on his face; it would not to do be humiliated in his own home, and humiliated he would be if he went up against Percy's daughter; he was sure of it.

"Hera, dear, why don't we just listen to what Perseus has to say without any interruption, hmm? Then we can decide on his—punishment—"

Percy decided it was time to start. "You see, when Annabeth told you all that you were not alone, she truly meant it. Artemis, would you like to explain?" He turned towards the Goddess of the Hunt as he said this, a true, warm smile on his face.

She began her retelling of the all the events that had taken place so far and ended with an explanation of Percy's instructions. She decided to let Percy tell of his own mission.

"Yes. Well, as you can see, someone had been helping Gaea bring some of the primordials across from the void. I went to investigate, and found my daughter instead."

At his words, every being in the room turned to her. He hurried on. "And if you lay a finger on her, you'll answer to me."

Hera sneered at his words. "What are you going to do, stare at us into oblivion?"

Chaos had heard enough. She was infuriated with Percy. _Oh, he is so going to get it._ _He's going to get it good. _

Percy was about to answer her when his worst nightmare stepped through a dark portal. _Okay, maybe not my worst nightmare, but I definitely do not want to face her now._

All the deities in the room turned to face the new comer. Once they saw who it was everyone apart from Percy and Cosmos bowed. Chaos acknowledged them with a jerky nod and strode towards Percy. When she got right next to him, she saw Cosmos step away. She smirked at her before slapping Percy across his face, hard.

"Chaos, I promise, this isn't how it looks!"

"This isn't how it looks?" She shrieked. "You have a _daughter!_ You didn't even tell me!"

"Chaos, just listen to me, honey!"

"Don't you honey me! First you _abandon_ me in the pursuit of some _stupid_ answer, and then you lie to me!"

Cosmos was practically rolling around with laughter. Many of the people in the room were doing something similar. Shock was plastered on Hera's face. So Percy was really a—higher being?

That's when something weird happened. Chaos slapped Percy again, but this time he didn't have the power radiating off of him, and he flew back and hit the far back wall almost instantly. Chaos' eyes widened and she ran to him, followed closely by Cosmos and Artemis. His wolf had already appeared next to him; she had tears in her eyes.

"No... this cannot be... I feel the moon-bond weakening! He's not..."

"No, this isn't possible! I blessed him with my own metal! He should be able to sustain a hit like that." Chaos was looking at him worriedly. Cosmos turned to her and spat a reply to her face.

"Yes, if you had actually blessed him, then maybe yes, he would have been able to sustain the injury. But you didn't bless him, he was manifesting his own powers during this avatar. Now, what did you do to cause him to block his powers when you slapped him? Answer me!"

Chaos' lips started quivering. She had never thought in all of her time that _she_ would be the one to kill off her own love. She stammered that she didn't know, and saw that Cosmos was about to hit her, but she didn't do anything to stop her.

She didn't need to. All of a sudden, a hand rushed out and stopped her. Cosmos turned around, stunned. A being walked out letting go of her hand. She was gobsmacked; this guy was so handsome he made Eros and Aphrodite combined look downright vulgar. He also seemed to emanate an aura so powerful that even Chaos backed up in fear. The colour of his aura was unusual; she had not known someone could radiate light so white it hurt to look while giving off a light so black it made the fabric of space-time look dull. Then realization struck her.

"Father?" She hesitated. Immediately her father turned to her and smiled at her.

"Yes, darling." The whole auditorium, for the umpteenth time that day shut up.

"But how? We saw your aura being snuffed out... you were dead!"

"I was, wasn't I? Not quite how I imagined breaking off the rebirth cycle; nor how I imagined achieving my true form, but yes. It is really me." He smiled at her again and turned to Chaos.

"I see you don't understand something. Ask, and I shall answer."

"Who—Who are you?" Existence laughed. He had been asked that question a lot. He decided it was time she knew.

"Why, you know my name, Chaos. We used to do a lot of things together, don't you remember?"

She smiled slightly at his words and then answered. "Yes, but I never really learned your name, and I've been calling you Percy due to your recent... avatar."

"My name is Existence, Chaos." He turned to his audience and motioned everyone to come closer and listen carefully.

"There is someone I would like you to meet, Chaos. Someone I would like all of you to meet. Ah, here he comes. Everyone, welcome Infinity to our presence, please." He said as a white portal opened up.

After an hour of greetings, bowings, and general all-around explaining, Infinity and Existence stopped talking. They had explained about themselves, the higher beings, as they were called, and Existence explained his _situation_ with Void to Chaos. She was sorry for being mad at him and begged his forgiveness. All the answer she received was booming laughter.

"My dear, if you hadn't killed me, then I would not have reached my true form! I was nowhere near this powerful when we first met. It seems I _did_ indeed learn the answer during this rebirth."

Chaos looked at him, a frown on her face. "But you were ten times as powerful as me when we first met! Would you care to explain?"

He looked at her and answered. "Chaos, I've found all of myself. I was fragmented before, and now I am whole. Thus I have achieved my true form, and as such I have increased as a being. Don't you feel stronger, ever since I came back?"

She thought for a bit before answering yes, and he continued. "That is because I'm at full strength. Existence itself is strengthened by my true form, and thus reality has become—for lack of a better phrase—more real. That is why Order and Balance must also find their answers in their own timelines. Because then, all the multiverses will be in complete harmony, thus removing the possibility of End. So long as we stay in balance, of course."

"Well that's great then! So where are they?"

Percy got a grumpy look at her question. "I don't know, I'm hoping they'll be escaping their timelines soon enough; I don't think anything could have gone wrong. I mean, they are _capable_, dependable people."

"You have no clue what they're doing? Talk about a splintered family."

"Hey! I was caught in the same cycle as them! You don't know how _hard_ it has been, searching for an answer through hundreds of lives."

"I'm sure. Living through hundreds of lives, meeting hundreds of different women and all."

Percy growled. "If you paid any attention, you would have learnt that _not even once_ could I manage to find a woman to wed and stay happy with." Chaos took a step back as he snarled. She was feeling a little overwhelmed. Lots of time she had thought that apart from Percy, she was the most powerful being in existence. She felt sort of hurt. Now she was losing her position of power; Chaos was nowhere near as powerful as the others. She realized now why Percy had almost treated her as a child when they had met. She sighed; his _daughter_ was almost as powerful as her. She was certainly not happy at how things had turned out, but she wasn't going to start complaining now.

Existence had returned to the thrones of the auditorium. He called the council there, and all of the deities present bowed their farewells to Infinity; he was needed elsewhere, and so he left. Now that the formalities had been taken care of, they could all sit down to fix their problems. Chaos decided she would stay. Besides; she had already lost her man (or higher being, same thing) once; she wasn't going to let it happen again.

"So, I take it you have been following the plans I laid down before my absence?"

"Yes, lord." This time, Percy was truly shocked. He had made it clear that he was fine with being called either Existence of Percy, but here someone insisted on calling him lord. And that someone turned out to be Zeus. _Of all the bloody people in this room, he is the one to call me 'lord'?_

"Zeus, call me that one more time and I'll send a bolt down your spine."

"Yes, milord." Percy rolled his eyes at Zeus' insistence to refer to him as his superior.

"Zeus, you call me that one more time and I disown you." Percy's threat came out more forceful than he had intended.

"Wait—what? You can do that?" Percy chuckled at Zeus' discomfort, and Chaos looked at him sighed. _Yes, I can do that, _he said to her mentally. Chaos decided not to question it any further.

"Anyways, getting back to the matter on hand. Gaea now has most of the Protogenoi on her side. I am unable to act on the Protogenoi apart from Gaea, it seems. Chaos has reminded me of _that_ oath." The gods all turned to Chaos and narrowed their eyes. Chaos sighed; ever since Existence and Infinity had popped up, fear and respect for her had gone down the drain. They all still respected her, yes, but she sort of enjoyed being able to get them to jump when she whistled. Now, of course, _she_ was more afraid of what would happen if she obliterated one of her _own_ descendants. Apparently, all beings, living or dead, belonged to Percy in some way or another. She wasn't exactly happy to have reminded him of the oath; it was just that she wasn't sure _what_ he would do with so much power. _Yeah, because let's face it, I'm facing someone who might as well be the metaphysical deity all those humans pray to._ She snapped back to attention as Percy continued.

"Nevertheless, you need not despair. I could give a few chosen demigods my blessing, and they would take down Gaea easily, as my champions. That is one way of doing things."

Existence paused in his speech and beckoned Cosmos forward. "There is, however, another way of doing things. Cosmos here is not limited by any of the bonds that hold me back; she is my daughter, thus making her part of the multiverses, and also a daughter of Void, thus making her from beyond the multiverses." Chaos soured at her name; what did Void have that she didn't? _Power? No, that can't be it. Existence was never a shallow man._ Then she scolded herself._ He's not even a man, you dolt!_

"She is the other option. I would allow her to fight the Protogenoi in my name; not that it would be much of a fight, of course, but still; we would be getting around the restrictions just fine." Chaos scrunched her nose up at his words. He trusted _her_ to help him out when she had been the one to hemp Gaea bring the Protogenoi back in the first place. _Shut up and think, Chaos. You can't help him; they are your own creations after all, you are as much bound by the oaths as Percy._ Finishing the internal debate with herself, she noticed Percy smiling at her. Horror crept at her; had he read her thoughts? His smirk seemed to confirm it. Chaos huffed and turned away from everyone.

The Olympians deliberated for another hour and then agreed to let Cosmos help them. As soon as she had finished her preparations, Cosmos appeared at the Gates of Olympus, ready to summon Gaea to her, as Gaea still believed her to be on her side. _Well_, _she's going to be in for a bit of a shock,_ she thought slyly.

She said her goodbyes to most of them while Percy brought everyone out of stasis. As he turned to Cosmos, Chaos at his side, she talked to him cheekily.

"Behave, you two. I don't want any sisters right now." Cosmos laughed at how red both their faces were; they really had no reason for it, but Percy still had his memories from being Percy, and he was still a tad embarrassed.

"Stay safe, baby girl." She shivered at his warm words, and smiled back at him, this time the smile devoid of any mischief.

Cosmos left with a few of the Hunters; he couldn't lose his daughter after having met her and bonded with her (literally) so recently. When she had left, he went to settle his own business.

Yeah, this was going to be problematic. Gaea was as good as gone and likely so the other Protogenoi, but right now, his biggest priority was finding Balance and Order before End got to them. The consequences otherwise were... Well it would be safe to say they wouldn't be pretty.

* * *

**So tell me how you thought it was, and thank you in advance for more reviews!**

**I'll agree with people if they say this wasn't my best chapter; I'm ranking it at a new low already.**

**Also, kind of a bummer but seems I broke my streak of longer and longer chapters. Well anyways, this one was meant to be a part of chapter 10 in the first place.**

**Good bye, good night, and Happy Olympics! I'm loving the opening ceremony right now.**


	12. Continuation

**Hey all! I know it has been a while, and I apologize for that.**

I just realized I may have confused a LOT of readers with the ending - but that's entirely normal: the story isn't over.

Yes, this was the first part of the story, and it introduced the setting and the world that it was taking place in. Mainly, it was to introduce the Higher Beings, specifically Existence. And Infinity.

**The unique thing about this story is that it's part of four - and the other two have already been started, and the two are sequels that happen ****_at the same time_****. ****Yes, the other two sequels (I'll be writing them as part 2 and part 3 in their descriptions) can be read in either order.**

**I'll be finishing them sometime this summer - exams will not allow me to finish them beforehand.**

I applaud your patience - I know I would have been extremely frustrated.

All I ask for is a bit more of that fantastic patience.

And for forgiveness for having forgotten to mark this part as complete.

**I'll reiterate. The sequels may be read in either order, as they are happening in parallel worlds. They will all connect back together in the fourth and final installment (which will be written as soon as I finish the sequels, beginning June).**

Thank you all once more for reading these. I'll go through this one and revisit some scenes, to clean up the grammar and horrible expression style, sometime afterwards.

Cheers,

**Ageofmyths**


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